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Sandlot stats. Learning statistics with baseball. (English) Zbl 1274.62020

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press (ISBN 978-1-4214-0602-2/hbk; 978-1-4214-0867-5/ebook). xii, 571 p. (2012).
A baseball-driven 101-statistics handbook. This book results from an original idea: to write a basic statistics handbook that would, from the first to the last page, talk about baseball. The mixing of baseball and statistics is indeed constant throughout the text, and as far as a non-baseball-fan can imagine, might appeal to baseball fans eager to learn elementary statistics. The handbook covers a little less than a social science undergraduate typical course in statistics. Classical representations of variables are briefly presented, as well as usual measures of position and deviation. A short introduction to the simplest classical tests (proportions, t-test) and a few words about probability are also provided. The probability chapters go a little farther than the rest of the book, e.g. giving formulas for a streak to happen.
These topics are all presented using only Excel as computing software, and with baseball-related data displayed in numerous pages-long tables. No statistical knowledge is needed to begin with the book, but knowing baseball’s rules is necessary for the reader, since almost every concept is presented in the baseball context.

MSC:

62-01 Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to statistics
00A06 Mathematics for nonmathematicians (engineering, social sciences, etc.)
97K70 Foundations and methodology of statistics (educational aspects)
97K80 Applied statistics (educational aspects)

Software:

Excel
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