Statistically Significant: Why We All Need Statistics

With World Statistics Day on October 20, it’s worth remembering how much numbers shape our understanding of the world and ourselves.

One in 20 high school students drop out before graduating, 8% of college students change their major at least once, and about 1% of the U.S. population complete a doctoral degree. Based on this information what would you say is the likelihood of someone who didn't graduate from high school earning a doctorate? What would you say is the likelihood of someone who started college as a costume design major before becoming a math professor? Do you think that's likely?

Your gut, subjectively even without all those numbers, but with your life experiences, should tell you the probability is very small. Believe it or not, you just did statistics.

And I would know! I’m a math and statistics professor. I encourage my students to use their gut and trust their own knowledge when encountering data and information. Before I was a math professor, I was a high school dropout. I started college as a costume design major, then switched to chemistry, which was quite a leap, before finally settling on mathematics. I then went on to get my doctorate in education. So, I would say it's statistically significant that I am writing this today.

I am not a statistic, but statistics can bring meaning to our lives. Statistics can help us realize that we are not alone. There are others with shared lived experiences, even if the community is very small.

Statistics can be a comfort, a way of understanding the world around us. It can be used to describe ourselves, the communities we live in, and allow us to make connections with the greater world.

We are now in the age of big data and big information collection and sharing. Those who control the data control the narrative and can use statistics to mislead and corrupt. We need to have a society that is ready and able to understand statistics.

So, why are so many high school students steered away from statistics and placed on the pathway to calculus?

From the Classroom to the TEDxStLouis Stage

This was the introduction to my talk “A Case for High School Statistics” I gave in May of 2025, for TEDxStLouis. It was the culmination of three years of work towards one singular goal: giving a TED talk. Because I didn't apply and audition to speak at TEDxStLouis once, or twice; I applied and auditioned three years in a row, which honestly makes it even more statistically significant!

Initially, I felt like my final audition was my worst. I thought this idea that we should encourage students to take statistics instead of calculus was so boring, because I'd had similar discussions with many college and high school math instructors. They were all in agreement with me, something along the lines of “Yeah, we should have more students taking statistics! Why don’t we?”

I hadn't realized that this wasn't a discussion that everybody was having. It was unique to me and my situation as a math professor with a lot of “mathy” friends. So TEDxStLouis decided this was an “idea worth spreading,” and as we approach the 4th World Statistics Day on October 20th, 2025, I am again sharing this idea with you.

Why Data Literacy Matters

Focusing on statistics in high school is the number one way to improve statistical literacy, which has been argued should be one of the top priorities in the United States education system today. Especially considering high school is the final step in the education for 40% of students.

Statistics is the class that can apply the most to their daily lives. I use it when I am reading the news or trying to determine what time to leave my house to catch the bus in order to have the greatest probability of not missing it.

I do know that I am a rarity; many people try to avoid math and statistics in their daily lives. So, with the 4th quinquennial (meaning it occurs every 5 years) World Statistics Day coming up I wanted to share a few ideas with you of how to celebrate and add some statistics to your day.

Activities to Celebrate World Statistics Day

With Kids

My first encounter with statistics, even if I didn’t know it was statistics at the time, was in the 3rd grade. I was given a bag of M&M’s by my favorite teacher. We were instructed to sort by color and make into a bar graph.

You can too! Break out any small candy, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, M&M’s, etc. Whatever you have in the house, Halloween is upon us after all and if you celebrate, why not do some math and enjoy your candy too?

Start by sorting your candies by color and count the number of each color that you have. This is called the frequency of that color.

Use this information to make a graph. Start by drawing a big L. On your horizontal line (x-axis) write the colors of your candies. You could do this in ROYGBIV order or start with which color has the highest frequency and continue in descending frequency order (this is called a Pareto chart). The choice is yours!

On the vertical line (y-axis) write the frequency or count.

You could then make a dot plot, or a bar graph, it’s your call!

Lastly, make sure you give your graph a title! All good graphs have a title.

Bonus Activity: Once Halloween rolls around you could have your little ghouls and goblins sort and count your candy haul by brand or type. This could be a very big process, but worthwhile!

With Middle Schoolers and Teens

Every time I play Scrabble, I'm always so close to spelling a great word, but never quite manage to pull off the final letter. I'm sure a lot of us have felt betrayed by our Scrabble selections.

So, what is the likelihood that I would be able to play my dream word… four letters… lots of points… instills fear in my students… QUIZ!

There are 100 tiles in a standard Scrabble set, 2 of those are blanks which can be played for any letter. For this example, for the ease of calculation, let us ignore the blank tiles. So, I am playing with 98 tiles.

Of those tiles, there is one possible Q, four possible Us, nine Is, and one Z. To find the probability I'm able to draw all four of these letters, we multiply.

What I have done is taken the probability of drawing a Q, times the probability of drawing a U given that one tile has been removed (the Q I just drew). Now instead of dividing by 98 I divide by 97, as there is one less tile. Then the probability of drawing an I given two tiles have been removed is 9/96 and the probability of drawing a Z is 1/95. When we multiply this all together, we get about 0.000000415.

To find the percent probability I multiply this by 100%. There is a 0.0000415 % chance I draw the word QUIZ. But what does that mean? It can be easier to express probability as 1 out of another number. For example, when flipping a coin, I have a 1 in 2 chance of getting heads. One divided by the probability of getting heads (0.50) gives me the number 2.

To find the probability of 1 in a number of drawing QUIZ, I take 1 divided by my probability of 0.000000415. I find it is about 1 in 2.4 million. So, I just need to be very, very, very patient.

*Note: It doesn’t matter what order I draw the letters in. The overall probability remains the same because multiplying probabilities is commutative (the order of multiplication doesn’t change the result).

Since we excluded the two blank tiles, when trying to play a word with more letters than appear in the standard scrabble set, such as PUZZLE with two Zs, that would have a 0 probability. For that we would need to add our blank tiles back in to have the possibility of being able to play two Zs. Try this with your current Scrabble goal word. You might see why it is still a goal. ;)

For Adults

I suggest you take the time to learn more about your city by the numbers. Data.census.gov has an interactive map you can explore by zip code full of information on demographics, income, education level, and more. The map for St. Louis City is a great one to explore

Perhaps you could do this while enjoying a nice statistics-themed cocktail such as a Long Island Iced t-test, Mai Chi, or Bay(esian) Breeze?

About This piece

This October thought leadership article is part of the TEDxStLouis Speaker Spotlight Series, which highlights St. Louis speakers and their latest projects, ideas, and sources of inspiration. Join us for our next live event on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at the Missouri History Museum, where local thought leaders will share bold ideas that inspire action and challenge us to see the world differently. Stay connected by following TEDxStLouis on social media, joining our email list, and exploring ways to get involved at tedxsaintlouis.org.

About Lauren Miller

Lauren Miller, a Doctor of Education and assisociate professor of mathematics and statistics at Saint Louis University, says, 'math applied is math remembered.' She argues that a solid foundation in statistics provides people with numerical literacy and reduces math anxiety. She presented “A Case for High School Statistics” at the Curiosity by TEDxSLouis event on May 31 at the Missouri History Museum.