What Are the Odds? - A Statistical Guide to Certainty in an Uncertain World

Using real-world examples, from brewing beer to finding a lost submarine, What Are the Odds? illuminates the core concepts of statistical thinking, asking not just what the data say but whether they're any good. Mark Prell shows how to avoid spurious reasoning and how to identify data that have been cherry-picked, falsified, or are plain wrong.

About the author

Mark Prell has authored or coauthored academic articles, book chapters, and government studies in economics, statistical methodology, and data quality. Prior to retirement, he was a senior economist at the US Department of Agriculture. He has served as Co-Chair of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, which advises US statistical agencies, and taught economics and statistics at Johns Hopkins University.

Product details

• Authors: Mark Prell
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 14.04.2026
• EAN: 9780674296367
• ISBN: 978-0-674-29636-7
• No. of pages: 512
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Mathematics > Probability theory, stochastic theory, mathematical statistics; MATHEMATICS / Probability & Statistics / General, MATHEMATICS / History & Philosophy, Philosophy of Mathematics, Information visualization, Probability & statistics, History of mathematics, Probability and statistics, COMPUTERS / Data Science / Data Visualization