CHAPTER 1

Statistics

It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.

George Bernard Shaw

Karl Pearson defined Statistics as the grammar of science.

Statistics is defined as the science and practice of developingknowledge through the use of empirical data expressed in quantitativeform in numbers.

For example, a first time visitor from India who comes to America andsees only one white man from the population of about 320 million inAmerica could go back to India and tell that all Americans are white.A second visitor who comes and sees one black man could go backhome and tell that all Americans are black. A third visitor coming fromIndia and seeing one white man and one black man and then goingback to India could tell that 50% of Americans are white and 50% ofAmericans are black. Now a person like me who has been in Americasince a long time and seen a large number of Americans and who alsolooks at available statistical data from Government survey says thatapproximately 88% white and 12 % black. This information is moreaccurate because the sample size is bigger and provides better statisticalinformation. In life, we cannot always have information on the entirepopulation and hence we work on a statistically significant sample size.

This reminds me of an interesting story, that when I came to NewYork for the first time in 1956, I went to Gainesville, Florida by theGreyhound bus. When the bus made its first stop in WashingtonD.C, I had to go to the restroom. When I approached the entrancedoors to the toilet for men's bathroom I saw two entrances, a signon one showed WHITE and the other BLACK. I looked at my skincolor and it was neither as WHITE as White American nor BLACKas Black American. It was in between and I did not know what to do.How was I to determine which entrance to go into?

An individual's statistics of every person is derived from the five senses(Fig. 1); and hence it is the best information to make decisions in life.You know that the five senses are:

• SEE with your eyes

• HEAR with your ears

• SMELL with your nose

• TASTE with your tongue

• FEEL with your body parts

A person who has excellent statistical information and the knowledgeto retrieve the information stored in his brain and arrives at theright conclusion is called an intelligent person. The person in thiscategory stores the information in different compartments and knowswhich compartment the information is in when he or she needs thatinformation to make the right decision. Recently there was a showon `60 minutes on CBS' showing six people who could tell you whatthe day of the week was if you gave them the date in any year. It wasshown that they compartmentalize the information and retrieve itwhen they need it. They showed the closet of one of the persons andit showed that everything was arranged neatly.

A person who has good statistical information but does not know howto retrieve and hence comes to wrong conclusion is called a stupidperson.

A person who does not have any significant statistical informationand hence may or may not come to the correct conclusion is called anignorant person. He is taking a chance to come to the conclusion.

Education, I choose to call it information or statistics, is the mostimportant thing you can give to your kids. Education will stay withthem the rest of their lives and will not be taken away by hurricane,fire like material things which we give them. When a patriot in India(Bal Gangadhar Lokamanya Tilak), was in fight with the British toleave India, all he preached was that education is the only way we canget rid of the British. He started newspapers and started the FergusonCollege in Pune. He happens to be my son-in-law's great grandfatherand was sent to jail by the British to Burma (now called Myanmar)in 1914 for six years, way before Mahatma Gandhi took over hisambition.

Most of the personal examples I have used depict how we as humanbeings use our past information to make good decisions. It is alsoto show how some specific instances in your life dictate your futureactions.

In order to build your database of statistics in your brain, to be ableto make good decisions in whatever you do, you need to be exposedto the following:

• Parental efforts and/or those of a guardian

• Education

• Travel

PERORATION

Evan Esar defines Statistics, though in a cynical way, as the scienceof producing unreliable facts from reliable figures, the fact remainsthat like everything else, Statistics can be used and misused. And ifyou are using it for leading a better life, you are certainly makingnot just good use but the best use of statistics.

CHAPTER 2

Information

Sir Benjamin Franklin had said, "For having lived long, I haveexperienced many instances of being obliged, by better informationor fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on importantsubjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise."

Quality of Life is based on how much information you have and themanner in which you use the information to accomplish whatevergoal you have in your mind. Normally, if you think through thegoal and make a detailed plan of action and attack, you have a muchgreater chance of achievement and accomplishment. You have tomake sure that you have good statistical information. If you have badinformation, what is also referred to as garbage, then you are boundto make wrong decisions, because garbage in can only give garbageout. So make sure that your source of information is reliable.

Sources of good information

Parents and/or Guardian

A child starts collecting data from the moment he or she is born. Infact, it is reported that a baby in the womb is constantly collectinginformation.

Hence, I believe that the environment has more to do with theprogress of the individual than the genetics. I agree that genetics hasto do with an individual looks, some mannerisms, diseases etc. To me,70%-80% of the personality of an individual appears derived fromthe environment.

Psychologists and psychiatrists claim that 80% of the personality ofthe individual gets formed from the time of...