My Relationship with Numbers
\nAre you good with numbers? Are you a numbers person? Are you a writer or mathematician? I\u2019ve heard these questions asked many times. It always felt a bit limiting to me. I never understood why you had to be one or the other. But I just accepted that being good at one meant that you could not be good at the other. For years I bought into the notion that you were naturally either a numbers person or not. I love reading and writing, I always have. So, for me, that meant that I could not be a numbers person. If you tell yourself something enough times, it becomes your inner narrative. Numbers and Math were that way for me. I embraced the idea that anything outside of reading and writing, which meant math and science, were areas that I would struggle with. So, I worked extra hard in those subjects desperately trying to defy my inner narrative. I completed an MBA, in part to prove that I can do the hard things, and because it made me more marketable (or so I believed). It turns out that the MBA, Math, Statistics and Accounting are not that hard. They are just not as interesting to me as Reading and Writing. I wish the questions had been phrased differently. Not, \u201cAre you good with numbers?\u201d but, \u201cDo numbers excite you?\u201d Hearing it that way would have saved me a great deal of grief around where my natural capabilities lie. If we believe what we are told and only what we are told, there is a danger of never exploring the truth for ourselves. How to Read Numbers is an invitation to learn how to understand and interpret numbers and statistics for ourselves.
\nCan we Trust it?
\n I expected How to Read Numbers to be dense, confusing, and not very interesting, I anticipated a truly unpleasant experience. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. What a refreshing approach to statistics! The information\/statistics that have been prevalent in the news over the last three years have been so hard to digest. It\u2019s been like drinking numbers from a fire hydrant on full blast. From COVID-19 Infection and Death to Election Numbers to Economic Growth\/Decline Statistics, we have received steady flow of information that has both overwhelming and disheartening. The large numbers can be scary, especially as they relate to mortality rate and quality of life. I found this example very helpful when interpreting COVID numbers, \u201cWhen is a number a big number? There\u2019s no such thing, really. Or rather: the bigness or otherwise of a number depends entirely on its context. A hundred is a big number of people to have in your house, but it\u2019s a small number of stars in the galaxy. Two is a small number of hairs on your head, but it\u2019s a huge number of lifetime of Nobel Prizes, or gunshot wounds to the stomach.\u201d(1) COVID-19 infection rate and death rate numbers were large and growing daily. My primary source of information was the entire internet and every news station. The CDC was and has been a wealth of information on Covid-19 Statistics. I remember turning on the TV every morning for up-to-date numbers throughout 2020. I had a difficult time imagining that one virus could cause so much devastation. Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death overall, accounting for more than 10% of all deaths in 2020. Final death data from the CDC shows that Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death for 350,831 people in 2020.(2) 350,831 deaths from one virus was unbelievable at the time (unfortunately the number it is so much higher now). When presented with a number this large it is easy to panic. According to the Census Bureau, in 2020 the population of the US was 359.5 million. Both numbers are large, and your perspective will be based on how you choose to interpret them. Statistically the COVID-19 deaths in 2020 represented .1% of the total US population. I can hear my sceptic friends saying, \u201cThe numbers don\u2019t lie. This virus killed less than 1% of the population!\u201d It is true, numbers don\u2019t lie but they can be presented in a way to support an argument or viewpoint. They can be combined and sliced to make a particular point or paint a certain picture. 350,831 is a lot of lives lost, and you are especially sensitive to that if one of your Loved Ones is among that number.
\nWhat is the Truth?
\nYou have to seek the truth and be open to what you find. It is easy to believe what the media feeds you or what you are told. The headlines of news cycles are designed to lure you in. Big, bold, and shocking news bytes are what keeps us tuning in. There are more than enough fake news outlets and social media platforms that provide a continuous flow of information. Overconsumption of information can happen and can blur the lines between what is fact and what is being presented as fact. I have been on the receiving end of far too many heated conversations with individuals using statistics that have been taken out of context and presented as facts. It is important to dig deeper, do your own research, and interpret and present it responsibly. I found three statements particularly useful.
\n1)\tPut numbers into context(3)
\n2)\tBe careful about saying or implying that something causes something else(4)
\n3)\tIf you get it wrong, admit it(5)
\nThese are not only guiding principles for interpreting statistics and reporting numerically responsible figures but can also help guide us in all aspects of our life. <\/p>\n
1. Tom Chivers and David Chivers, How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them) (London:
\n Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022), 63.
\n 2. \u201cTracking Covid-19 Cases in the US,\u201d CNN (Cable News Network), accessed February 9, 2023,
\n https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/2020\/health\/coronavirus-us-maps-and-cases\/.
\n 3. Tom Chivers and David Chivers, How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them) (London:
\n Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022), 166.
\n 4. IBID.168
\n 5. IBID.169<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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