Statistics: more than numbers.

• Position: STUDENT WORK SHEET - Brief article

Eight seconds are left in the basketball game and your team is down by one. You have the ball. Who do you pass to?

Understanding statistical probability can help you determine the likelihood of something happening, and prepare you to make smart decisions. Back to the game:

* The freshmen have made 40 out of 100 shots this season (40%).

* The seniors have made 160 out of 200 shots this season (80%).

To understand this another way, a senior is two times more likely to make the shot than a freshman because the seniors' shooting percentage is twice as high. This is calculated by dividing the seniors' 80% by the freshmen's 40%, equaling 2. In a bar graph, this means the seniors' bar is two times the size of the freshmen's (see Figure 1). Could a freshman make the shot and a senior miss? Of course! These are probabilities, not certainties, but the seniors' chance of scoring is still twice as high.

The same process can be applied to...