How to Lie with Statistics: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Book by Darrell Huff}}

{{italic title}}

{{sources|date=February 2022}}

{{Infobox book

<!-- |italic title = (see above) -->

| name = How to Lie with Statistics

| image = How to Lie with Statistics.jpg

| caption = FirstCover of the first edition

| author = [[Darrell Huff]]

| title_orig =

Line 10 ⟶ 11:

| illustrator = [[Irving Geis]]

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject = [[Statistics]]<br/>[[Social science]]

| genre =

| publisher = [[W. W. Norton & Company]]

| pub_date = 1954

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Print

| pages = 142

| isbn = = 0-393-31072-8

| dewey = 311.2

| congress = HA29 .H82

| external_url =https://archive.org/details/howtoliewithstat0000darr

| external_host = [[Internet Archive]]

}}

'''''How to Lie with Statistics''''' is a book written by [[Darrell Huff]] in 1954, presenting an introduction to [[statistics]] for the [[general reader]]. Not a statistician, Huff was a journalist who wrote many "how -to" articles as a freelancer, but was not a statistician.

The book is a brief, breezy illustrated volume outlining the [[misuse of statistics]] and errors in the interpretation of statistics, and how errors create incorrect conclusions.

The book is a brief, breezy, illustrated volume outlining errors when it comes to the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors may create incorrect conclusions. In the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard textbook introduction to the subject of statistics for many college students. It has become one of the best-selling statistics books in history, with over one and a half million copies sold in the English-language edition.<ref name="fiftyyears">"Over the last fifty years, How to Lie with Statistics has sold more copies than any other statistical text." J. M. Steele. "[http://www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~steele/Publications/PDF/TN148.pdf Darrell Huff and Fifty Years of ''How to Lie with Statistics'']. ''Statistical Science'', 20 (3), 2005, 205–209.</ref> It has also been widely translated.

The book is a brief, breezy, illustrated volume outlining errors when it comes to the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors may create incorrect conclusions. In the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard textbook introduction to the subject of statistics for many college students. It has become one of the best-selling statistics books in history, with over one and a half million copies sold in the English-language edition.<ref name="fiftyyears">"Over{{Cite thejournal|title=Darrell lastHuff fiftyand years,Fifty Years of ''How to Lie with Statistics''|author-first has=J. soldMichael more|author-last copies=Steele than| any other statistical text."author-link =J. M.Michael Steele. "[http://www-stat|journal=Statistical Science |doi=10.wharton.upenn.edu1214/~steele/Publications/PDF/TN148.pdf088342305000000205 Darrell|publisher Huff and Fifty Years=[[Institute of ''How to Lie withMathematical Statistics'']. ''Statistical Science'',] |doi-access=free|volume=20 (|issue=3), |date=2005, |pages=205–209.}}</ref> It has also been widely translated.

Themes of the book include "[[Correlation does not imply causation]]" and "Using [[random sampling]]". It also shows how statistical graphs can be used to distort reality, for example by truncating the bottom of a line or bar chart, so that differences seem larger than they are, or by representing one-dimensional quantities on a pictogram by two- or three-dimensional objects to compare their sizes, so that the reader forgets that the images do not scale the same way the quantities do.

Themes of the book include "[[Correlation does not imply causation]]" and "Using [[random sampling]]"." It also shows how statistical graphs can be used to distort reality,. forFor example, by truncating the bottom of a line or bar chart, so that differences seem larger than they are,. orOr, by representing one-dimensional quantities on a pictogram by two- or three-dimensional objects to compare their sizes, so that the reader forgets that the images do not scale the same way the quantities do.

The original edition contained humorous illustrations by artist [[Irving Geis]]. In a UK edition these were replaced with cartoons by [[Mel Calman]].

The original edition contained humorous illustrations by artist [[Irving Geis]]. In a UK edition, theseGeis' illustrations were replaced withby cartoons by [[Mel Calman]].

==See also==

{{wikiquote|* ''[[How to Lie with Statistics}}Maps]]''

*[[Freakonomics]]

*[[Lies, damned lies, and statistics]]

*[[Misuse of statistics]]

*''[[The Tiger That Isn't]]'', a book on taking numbers out of context

==Notes==

{{reflist}}

==SourcesReferences==

* Darrell Huff, (1954) ''How to Lie with Statistics'' (illust. I. Geis), Norton, New York, {{ISBN|0-393-31072-8}}

* Darrell Huff, (1991) ''How to Lie with Statistics'' Penguin; New Ed edition, {{ISBN|0-14-013629-0}}

==External links==

{{Wikiquote}}

*[http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/158 Book review] at www.mooreds.com

*[http://plus.maths.org/content/how-lie-statistics-0 Book review] at plus.maths.org

*Book readable online: [[iarchive:HowToLieWithStatistics|https://archive.org/details/HowToLieWithStatistics]]

{{Misuse of statistics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:How To Lie With Statistics}}

[[Category:1954 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:Statistics books]]

[[Category:Mathematics books]]

[[Category:Misuse of statistics]]