Product Description
Think you can’t have fun learning statistics? Think again.
The Manga Guide to Statistics will teach you everything you need to know about this essential discipline, while entertaining you at the same time. With its unique combination of Japanese-style comics called manga and serious educational content, the EduManga format is already a hit in Japan.
In The Manga Guide to Statistics, our heroine Rui is determined to learn about statistics to impress the dreamy Mr. Igarashi and begs her father for a tutor. Soon she’s spending her Saturdays with geeky, bespectacled Mr. Yamamoto, who patiently teaches her all about the fundamentals of statistics: topics like data categorization, averages, graphing, and standard deviation.
After all her studying, Rui is confident in her knowledge of statistics, including complex concepts like probability, coefficients of correlation, hypothesis tests, and tests of independence. But is it enough to impress her dream guy? Or maybe there’s someone better, right in front of her?
Reluctant statistics students of all ages will enjoy learning along with Rui in this charming, easy-to-read guide, which uses real-world examples like teen magazine quizzes, bowling games, test scores, and ramen noodle prices. Examples, exercises, and answer keys help you follow along and check your work. An appendix showing how to perform statistics calculations in Microsoft Excel makes it easy to put Rui’s lessons into practice.
This EduManga book is a translation from a bestselling series in Japan, co-published with Ohmsha, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.
About the Author
Shin Takahashi graduated from the Graduate School of Design at Kyushu University in Japan. He has worked as a lecturer and as a data analyst and is currently employed as a technical writer. Takahashi has published several books in the Japanese Manga Guide series, including Statistics-Factor Analysis Edition and Statistics-Regression Analysis Edition (both published by Ohmsha).
Trend Pro, Inc. is a pioneer of Ad-Manga–advertisement and advertising using Manga–in Japan. The company has produced over 1,700 Ad-Manga for over 700 clients, including many well-known public companies and government agencies. The company has over 100 registered professional Manga artists.
I loved “The Cartoon Guide to Statistics” because it was humorous very simply told and yet accurately taught. Some of the material is so good that I now use it in my introductory biostatistics course.
The Manga Guide to Statistics does similar things but a little differently. This book is in cartoon strip form and the characters are familiar to many kids who these days wacth the Japanese cartoons on television and read the comic books. This includes my son Daniel who is a high school junior. Dan hates to read but loves math and science and this is the first statistics book that intrigued him enough to read it! I know is reading it and enjoying learning from it by the questions he asks. So like the other cartoon book on statistics this too is a gentle introduction for those with math skills and those with an aversion to mathematics. It shows how statistics is practical by illustrating the techniques on everyday real world data, such as the scores of bowling team players at a bowling alley. It covers the basic summary statistics, correlation, hypothesis testing and probability distributions. What I found interesting was that in addition to the ordinary Pearson product moment correlation they also provided intra-class correlation and Cramer’s V (for categorical data). These methods are rarely covered in elementary texts.
One thing it has that is missing in “The Cartoon Guide to Statistics” is the teaching of how to use the computer to apply what they learn. In the final chapter they do this using Excel and teaching things step by step using screen shots of excel spreadsheets.
Throughout the book when a new statistic is introduced they go through the step by step details of the calculations. This is something that student do not necessarily need to learn in the age of computers and statistical computer packages. However, going through the tedium of the calculations has a way of reinforcing the concepts and it gives the student a better understanding of exactly what a variance and a standard deviation are.
I recommend this book for high school students to supplement what they learn in class or for independent self-learning. College student with weak math backgrounds who need an introduction to statistics may also find this book useful and interesting. It is working wonders for Dan who now wants to get the soon to be published Manga guides to physics, calculus, microbiology and databases! Unfortunately this one is the first to come out and the others won’t appear until later in 2009.
Can You Learn Statistics from Cartoons?
The short answer is yes. The is a deceptively simple introduction to statistics that is taught via manga, or Japanese cartoons. If you ride the subway in Tokyo, you’ll see many riders reading manga for diversion on their way to and from work. They are serial stories presented in black and white cartoons.
The Manga Guide to Statistics uses a cartoon format to present elementary statistics. You might think that an apparently non-serious approach wouldn’t work in introducing a complicated subject such as statistics, but think again. The basics are all here. Chapters are included on the subjects listed below
Categorical & Numerical Data defined
Numerical Data
Various descriptions, mean, median, standard deviation, estimation theory
Categorical Data
Cross tabulations
Standard Score, Deviation Score
Probability
Probability density function
Standard normal distribution
Chi square distribution
t distribution
F distribution
Use of computer spread sheets to do the math
Testing Variables
Correlation coefficient
Correlation ratio
Cramer’s coefficient
Hypothesis Testing
Chi-Square test of independence
Null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis
P-value and procedure for hypothesis tests
Tests of independence and tests of homogeneity
Again, use of computers to simplify the calculations
This is a good book for a general introduction to the theory and methodology of statistics. It is short on examples and problems to work on, but for certain readers, it may have value in helping them understand the available statistical tools. It is also short as well on explaining the strengths and weaknesses of statistics, For example, I don’t believe you could use just the material in the book to critique the use of statistics in a medical article.
While it has the math, and a short description of the theory, it falls short in teaching the philosophy behind our understanding of statistics. If you don’t believe that is important, take a look at the current financial landscape in the world. Many people blame the “greed” of Wall Street for our financial troubles, but a more basic cause is a misuse and lack of understanding about what one can actually learn from statistics. In short, in the real world, there is no such thing as a “normal” population, and the expression P=0 never happens. An admittedly longer and more complex book that should be on the short reading list of all who are interested in “understanding” statistics is The Cult of Statistical Significance: How the Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives by by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey and Steve Ziliak
But for an introduction, it may be very helpful to certain readers, particularly to those who may be visual learners.
Recommended with reservations.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprising Purchase
I bought this book on a whim – I like manga, and statistics play a big part in my daily life. I was expecting this book to suck – how can manga be informative in an academic…
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very enjoyable and useful book!
Ahh, statistics. The subject that so many of us need to understand, too few grasp, and even fewer seem to enjoy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
VERY fun way to learn statistics!!!
‘The Manga Guide to Statistics’ is an excellent way to learn statistics for the newbie or amateur client base, plain and simple.
I don’t know where to start. This is the best statistics book. Ever.
I never thought I’d say this, but the authors have made a book on statistics FUN without dumbing it down (this effectively covers at least the entirety of a college level stat intro class).
As a student, this cleared up many problems I’d been having operationalizing fairly advanced formula within Excel. The chapter on inputting statistical formulae in Excel is amazing and worth the cost of the book in itself. The explanations of the formulas use concrete, real world examples. No gambling examples or other unnecesarily abstract or standard scenarios.
As a teacher, I bow down to Mr. Takahashi and the folks at Trend-pro. Their pedagogical expertise is unparalleled. I can only hope that one day I am 1/10th the teacher this man is. He made statistics, a fairly dry subject, not just palatable, but entertaining.
Arigato.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A ‘must’ for any student trying to apply statistical calculations to reality
Any student anxious about statistics will find The Manga Guide to Statistics an outstanding guide: it covers various types of calculations, shows how to determine probability and…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charmed into learning stuff.
I have never been a big manga fan, and I truly suck at math, statistic included. But I’ve always wanted to know at least a little math, and statistics seems to be among the more…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple way to learn
This is a good book to go to for learning the fundamentals of statistics in a painless way. I wish that the exercises were longer.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Manga + Statistics Lessons = Easy To Learn
Manga is much more widely used in Japan for teaching than comic art is used here in the US. But, as manga and anime have become popular, it is only natural that their use as a…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to read and understand
This book was easier to understand than the textbook I used in my college course.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Statistics and Manga is Age Specific
I feel that this is a good book for US students in about the 6th or 7th grade. I was interested because I know a lot of students learn from Manga books and it is the craze in…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Concepts clearly explained in a fun way
This book is very good for introductory statistics. I am looking forward to the second part of this book. I wish it covered more topics.