The Manga Guide to Statistics

Preface

This is an introductory book on statistics. The intended readers are:

Those who need to conduct data analysis for research or business

Those who do not necessarily need to conduct data analysis now but are interested in

getting an idea of what the world of statistics is like

Those who have already acquired general knowledge of statistics and want to learn

more

Statistics is one of the areas of mathematics most closely related to everyday life and

business. Familiarizing yourself with statistics may come in handy in situations like:

Estimating how many servings of fried noodles you can sell at a food stand you are

planning to set up during a school festival

Estimating whether you will be able to pass a certification exam

Comparing the probability that a sick person will get better between a case in which

medicine X is used and a case in which it is not used

This book consists of seven chapters. Basically, each chapter is organized in the follow-

ing sections:

Cartoon

Text explanation to supplement the cartoon

Exercise and answer

Summary

You can learn a lot by just reading the cartoon section, but deeper understanding and

knowledge will be acquired if you read the other sections as well.

I would be very pleased if you start feeling that statistics is fun and useful after reading

this book.

I would like to thank the staff in the development department of Ohmsha, Ltd., who

offered me the opportunity to write this book. I would also like to thank TREND-PRO,

Co., Ltd. for making my manuscript into a cartoon, the scenario writer, re_akino, and the

illustrator, Iroha Inoue. Last but not least, I would like to thank Dr. Sakaori Fumitake of the

College of Social Relations at Rikkyo University. He provided me with invaluable advice while

I was preparing the manuscript for this book.

Shin Takahashi

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