Hello Everyone-52 yr old and back in college and statistics is kicking my butt

[vannie52]

Hi everyone,
I was glad to find this forum, after many years I am back in school and I never had statistics in high school and it is kicking my butt. I did not even know there were so many categories of statistics. At first I thought, this is just replacing these symbols for words, it doesn't look so bad, and I was able to do some of the simple problems, then it went from that to sitting and crying with the statistics book! LOL (serious though). These I think are still pretty basic problems, and I am not stupid by any means, but these make me feel sooo stupid...I think it is like a new language, trying to learn all the symbols for everything. I do not even know which area of this post to qualify it as to label it. I do want to learn and I really wish I had taken this in high school. Unless you are a researcher or a math teacher, or finance person can anyone say they use this stuff in everyday life?
Vannie

 

[Buckeye]

Well, the interest for me started with a quote from John Tukey - "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard." I imagined myself never running out of things to investigate. So, I could always learn new things. I find this is still true even though I am not a statistical consultant (except when my opinion is on this forum). lol

 

[vannie52]

you enjoy statistics? I hate it..spent 2 hrs on three problems....I just wanted to cry...it makes my head hurt, not to mention makes me feel stupid

 

[hlsmith]

Welcome to the forum @vannie52

Feel free to post any questions or comments
you may have!

 

[AngleWyrm]

Human brains are designed by the trial & error of natural selection to trigger on differences from normal, and ignore normal. So we can spot that tiger in the bush. This has worked well for survival, but it also means that brains are terrible at giving an intuitive feel of a collection of things. We remember the unusual and forget the ordinary.

So statistics for me is a way to look at the world as it really exists,

 

[noetsi]

People panic when they first run across statistics. After years of taking it in college and 13 years of reading it on my own I have reached the point of being merely inadequate at it rather than panicked. Just ask anyone here...

Best to just post some of the problems and people can explain it. That is the simplest way to learn it. They overly complicate and fail to explain it in classes.

 

[Saphire]

Not limited to a researcher, mathematics or a business person, it's also used in med science, pol science, forecasting, sports, education, etc. Little or big, parts of stats are regularly being used. I suggest you seek external resources, apart from the books, to ease your understanding, as well as, time. Just as you reached out to this forum, you can also look for flashcards or free mock test papers for practicing, essay writing service for dissertations, journals and publications for interesting updates.
I had to learn statistics in my management studies. I didn't hate it but also is not my most favorite subject, so I too sought help.
But you'll get it eventually. The beginnings are really frustrating for some (like me), but clearing the concept makes it easy. It's not that difficult as it seems.
Good Luck!!

 

[Miner]

At first I thought, this is just replacing these symbols for words, it doesn't look so bad... …I think it is like a new language, trying to learn all the symbols for everything.

What is even worse is that different disciplines will use different words and different symbols to describe the same concept, so you need to learn multiple new languages.

Unless you are a researcher or a math teacher, or finance person can anyone say they use this stuff in everyday life?

I work in industry and this is my everyday job. Industrial statistics is quite different from that taught in schools.