My take on it:

Statistics is a pretty broad field of the mathematical sciences, and for most definitions of the field, one can find examples that break the definition, including mine. Statistics is the body of knowledge pertaining to understanding data. This includes both the art and science of: experimental design, organization and summarization of data, data analysis, and making predictions and drawing conclusions from data. It is the interface of science with both observation and modeling. It is almost completely predicated on probability theory.


There are two primary reasons that you should know something about statistics.

1) Your field of study and/or job requires it.

• Statistics is the interface to scientific experiments and observations, and every pure scientific field,
i.e., astronomy, physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, zoology, engineering, etc., utilizes the power of
statistics. Indeed, they would not be what they are without it. Virtually everything scientific in nature
requires experiments and observations of real data, which is statistics.

• The social sciences, such as political science, sociology, economics, and psychology to name just a
few, rely on surveys, designed experiments, regression theory, etc., to do just about anything.


• Statistics is also prevalent in the professional fields, such as business, medicine, education, etc. In
fact, statistics is huge here. Reliability analysis, market predictions, development and testing of
product, allocation of educational funds, and so much more, are all based on statistics.


• And don’t forget industry; Six Sigma programs are everywhere (Six Sigma is a data-driven approach
and methodology, i.e., statistical approach for eliminating defective products in industry). Japan’s post
World War II economic boom is at least partially due to industrial statistics. Mil-specs, ISO, etc.

• Maybe the fine arts as a field doesn’t really need it.

2) You are a citizen in a capitalistic republic. Everyone is trying to sell you their products, and every
politician is trying to gain your favor. Understanding the basics of statistics is a prerequisite for not
being swindled.  And also for being a good citizen.