Living Histograms - Penn State University

Living Histograms
Author(s): Brian L. Joiner
Source: International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale de Statistique, Vol. 43, No. 3
(Dec., 1975), pp. 339-340
Published by: International Statistical Institute (ISI)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1403117
Accessed: 02/12/2009 06:58
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=isi.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
International Statistical Institute (ISI) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale de Statistique.
http://www.jstor.org
Int. Stat. Rev., Vol. 43, No. 3, 1975, pp. 339-340/Longman GroupLtd/Printedin Great Britain
Living Histograms
BrianL. Joiner
Statistics Department, The Universityof Wisconsin- Madison
Summary
Most studentsand indeedsocietyas a whole tend to thinkof statisticsas a dull subjecthavingto do with endless
columnsof numbers,and havinglittle to do with people or otherinterestingthings.Thus it becomesvery useful
to have teachingaids that help to demonstrateto studentsthat statisticsis a "live"interestingsubjectwhichfinds
applicationthroughoutthe real world.
The pictures in Figures 1 through 4 were taken to help make statistics come more alive to
students who are not numerically nor algebraically oriented. These pictures can be used to
demonstrate a number of important statistical concepts, including: statistical distributions,
histograms, the normal "bell-shaped" curve, scatter plots, correlation, mean, median, mode,
range, hetrogeneous populations and unsuspected correlations. Some further details are given
in the captions.
The students in the pictures are from two introductory statistics classes and one introductory
psychology class. We asked for volunteers in these three classes and virtually all of the students
volunteered. We checked the heights and weights of the few who declined to participate and
found no significantdifferences.Infact, all of the non-participantsseemedto have quitelegitimate
reasons for being elsewhere at the scheduled time. Thus it does not appear that these figures are
biased to any significant extent due to non-response.
The basic idea for these pictures stems from Youden's Experimentationand Measurement
(1962) which has a picture similar to Figure 1 based on the heights of potted plants. Subsequently, sketches similar to Figures 1 and 3 were discovered in references [Kafka (1950)] and
[Silverman, Eliot and Brody (1973)].
Eight by ten inch glossy prints of Figures 1 to 4 and several other pictures are available from
the author for $2.00 each to cover costs. Other pictures available include the corresponding
pictures for males and pictures showing "Eleven 50 per cent non-parametric, extreme order
statistic, confidence intervals based on n = 2" and "Seven 87-5 per cent non-parametric,
extreme order statistic, confidence intervals based on n = 4". Standardtwo by two inch 35 mm
colour slides are also available for $1.00 each.
The assistance of many students and colleagues is gratefully acknowledged, as is the intrepid
courage of photographer James F. Lukens.
References
Kafka, F. (1950). Statistics Without Numbers. Lifetime Editions, Inc., New York.
Silverman,Eliot N.; Brody, Linda A. (1973). Statistics: A CommonSense Approach.Prindle, Weber and
Schmidt,Inc., Boston, Mass.
and Measurement.ScholasticBook Services,New York.
Youden, W. J. (1962). Experimentation
1 This work was done while the authorwas at The PennsylvaniaState University.
340
Resume
La plupart des etudiants, et en fait la societe dans son ensemble, ont tendancea consid6rerles statistiques
comme un sujet ennuyeux, s'interessanta des colonnes sans fin de chiffres,mais de peu d'interetpour les
individus, ou autres domaines dignes d'attention. C'est pourquoi il devient tr6s utile de pouvoir disposer
d'auxiliairesd'enseignement,aidanta montreraux 6tudiantsque les statistiquesconstituentun sujetint6ressant
et "vivant",qui trouvedes applicationsdans tout l'universreel. Les dessinsdes figures1 a 4 ont ete choisis dans
le but d'aider a faire des statistiquesquelque chose de plus vivant aux yeux des 6tudiantsdont l'orientation
n'est pas tourneevers les domainesdu nombreet de l'algebre.Ces dessinspeuventetre utilis6spour presenter
beaucoup de concepts statistiquesimportants,notamment: distributionsstatistiques,histogrammes,courbe
normale "en cloche", dispersion,correlation,moyenne, m6diane,mode, 6tendue,populationsh6terogenes,et
correlationsnon douteuses.
?L ***?
*E:-i
;
*-'
II
Figure i. tistogram oj a sample oj college jemales arrangea oy nelgnt. ror example, me two grins at tne leit are
both 4 feet 11 inches, the next five are all 5 feet tall and so on. Notice the "bell-shaped" curve formed by the
:I
Figure3. Scatterplot of collegefemales arrangedaccordingto theirheightand weight.For example,the girl