Title: Week 2 — turning numbers into pictures (and catching the pictures that lie)
Course: Introduction to Statistics (18-Week Generic Edition)

Hi everyone,

Nice work getting through Week 1 — you can now ask the three questions that decide whether a number deserves trust: who was measured, how were they picked, what was recorded. This week we finally do something with the data: turn it into pictures.

This week — Summarizing Data with Tables & Graphs — the big question is: How do you turn a pile of numbers into a picture your eyes can read — and how do you spot the pictures built to fool you? You'll build frequency tables, bar and pie charts, histograms, dot plots, and stem plots — learn to describe a distribution's shape — and finish with the fun part: the four classic tricks behind misleading graphs.

Three things not to miss: 1. Chapter 2 is your primary reading — start there; every graph this week gets easier after it. 2. Data Lab 2 brings back the penguins: you'll draw their first real pictures, then build a deliberately lying chart on purpose (and fix it). Due at the end of Week 2. 3. Discussion 2 — "The Zoomed-In Axis" — wants your initial post two days before the week ends, so classmates have time to reply. When is a graph allowed to not start at zero? You'll have opinions.

One habit to carry all week: before you read any bar chart, check where the axis starts. You'll be amazed how often that one glance changes the story.

Open the Start Here / Module Overview page first — it lays out everything in order with due points. Bring a graph you've seen recently (any app or ad will do) — we'll put it under oath.

See you in the course!