Day 3: Statistics / Still struggling, but finally under control.

After the first two days of struggle, the refusing to submit finally paid dividends. I went to bed a little early then read ahead today's chapters so that I could follow what the professor was talking about in class.

Then I set about to do the examples following what was written in the textbook.

The odd thing about the classes is that the professor explains the theory ever so patiently and in terms which even the most math-averse person could appreciate. And yet, when we get to the practicum on using Excel for statistics, the same teacher becomes a complete different person, an Excel wizard who zips through the equations without explaining how he got these in the first place. As a result, a lot of us are lost or struggling to keep up with the practical portion of the class.

Wry sarcasm and parting comment: "Sit down with these problems tonight at dinner with a glass of wine, and maybe you'll see how they're done. Or maybe have a couple of glasses. Everything goes well with two glasses." Yeah, right. I think I'm going to rest a day before tackling these problems again.

Actually, the class was interesting, talking about surveys and sampling large populations. Already I can see the applications of the statistics we're studying, with regards to operations management and quality control.

Evidently there is a slogan called "six sigma" referring to companies who attempt to make their manufacturing processes as error-free as possible. Hmmm, perhaps this is explained in Wikipedia.

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LINKS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma

This is a very good article on it, I do recommend you take a look at it.