Why You Should Take a Statistics Class

​by Charlie Snow

When people think of mathematics in STEM, especially students, the first concepts that come to mind are some advanced form of calculus or a combination of physics and math that leaves most minds spinning. As students strive to set themselves apart from their peers in these complicated subjects of STEM, one math class is often pushed to the back of the bunch. Sure, there are people who thoroughly enjoy quantum physics and thermodynamics, however, when it comes to STEM, there's one math class that every STEM student should take.

Statistics, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities, especially for the purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in a representative sample.” As a math class, it sets itself apart from its peers through the enormous amount of writing and reliance on context it uses to often confuse the students trying to understand its picky concepts. As a survivor of AP Statistics, trust me when I say it is very different from any other math class you’ll take in your high school career. Every grade you earn relies on your understanding of statistics vocabulary, concepts, and interpretation of the problem you’re solving. Yet despite its often infuriating nit-picking of your work, statistics can be an incredibly useful tool in your STEM career.

To start, if you’re interested in any type of research, statistics is essential. Your data needs to be simplified, explained, and described to an audience that probably won’t have any understanding of your project before reading your paper. Descriptive and interpretive statistics are essential in explaining what your data shows, what it means in the context of your research, and how significant the numbers are. As a math class, statistics helps you to think of things not only in a mathematical context but a scientific one as well. Even a general understanding of statistics can prevent amature mistakes such as overgeneralizing results, equating correlation to causation, and avoiding illogical reasoning. Because of the importance of statistics in scientific fields, knowing concepts like how to conduct data analysis can open up dozens of doorways to careers not only in the mathematics of STEM but in scientific areas as well.

If research isn’t your thing, statistics can still help you in your field. Understanding what the meanings of means, standard deviations, significance tests, and confidence intervals is an incredible help when researching topics that interest you or when trying to determine whether facts based on statistics are valid. You’ll be able to research others’ claims and determine on your own if they’re valid. In addition to understanding the mathematics of statistics, understanding how context interacts with statistics can give you more clues on what the numbers mean in that particular situation.

And if you don’t feel the need to do any of that, if STEM doesn’t interest you at all, you should still take a statistics class. Understanding how probability works will help you make better decisions based on your chances of getting what you want. Math is certainly not everyone’s preferred career path and you could definitely get through life fine without a concrete understanding of statistics, however, if you want to be in the research field, if you want to understand research, or if you just want to understand more about what numbers and data mean in the context of life, take a statistics class.

Sources:
​https://www.socialsciencespace.com/2018/05/10-reasons-to-study-statistics/ https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/