When I was in the university, I disliked Statistics and History.
Yes, I would attend the classes, do the exercises and study for the examinations but not with the same fervor I did if with Microbiology.
I just didn't see then the significance of "Correlation," "Random variable," "Standard deviation," etc. in my daily existence.
Also, there were just too much information to take in whenever I enter my History class.
The discussion about the dates, the places, the events and the people just floated on top of my head.
For me, it just wasn't fun to be stuck inside a classroom looking at numbers and listening to a boring recount of what happened several centuries ago.
I was wrong; it matters.
Statistics is the science of dealing with and explaining numbers.
Its application encompasses all aspects of our life including business, research, quality control (my job before), and even art.
We are able to predict the future based on data we have previously gathered.
And for History, it helps us understand people and societies, and the changes that formed civilizations we live in.
Knowing these facts can be essential to adapting to the constant changes we experience.
Too bad this realization came late to me.
I still have time to make up for it though.
Check out this video clip about the world's history using a statictics model.
If the approach to teaching History and Statistics back then was like this, then maybe I would have enjoyed the subjects better.
The presenter in the video is Dr. Hans Rosling.
He is a Swedish medical doctor, public speaker and a Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute.
Dr. Rosling's "Gapminder Foundation" is also the developer of an information visualization software for animation of statistics called "Trendalyzer."
Sources:
http://www.historians.org/pubs/free/WhyStudyHistory.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1034276/the_importance_of_statistics_in_our.html?cat=41
http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2009$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iMg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=295;dataMax=79210$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=19;dataMax=86$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=
http://intelligent-enterprise.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=C415VNTLBBJURQE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN?articleID=196602724
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l
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