Visual Statistics: Seeing Data with Dynamic Interactive Graphics

396 Pages·2006·18.508 MB·English

by  Forrest W. Young, Pedro M. Valero-Mora, Michael Friendly

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VISUAL STATISTICS
WILEY SERIES IN PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS
Established by WALTER A. SHEWHART and SAMUEL S. WILKS
Editors: David J. Balding, Noel A. C. Cressie, Nicholas I. Fisher,
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David W. Scott, Adrian F. M. Smith
Editors Emeriti: Vic Barnett, J. Stuart Hunter, David G. Kendall, JozefL. Teugels
A complete list of the titles in this series appears at the end of this volume.
VISUAL STATISTICS
SEEING DATA WITH
DYNAMIC INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS
FORREST W. YOUNG
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA
PEDRO M. VALERO-MORA
Universität de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
MICHAEL FRIENDLY
York University, Toronto, Canada
WILEY-INTERSCIENCE
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Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Young, Forrest W.
Visual statistics : seeing data with dynamic interactive graphics / Forrest W. Young,
Pedro M. Valero-Mora, Michael Friendly.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10 0-471-68160-1
ISBN-13 978-0-471-68160-1
1. Statistics—Graphic methods. 2. Statistics—Charts, diagrams, etc. 3. Computer
graphics. 4. Information visualization. I. Valero-Mora, Pedro M., 1967- II. Friendly,
Michael. III. Title.
QA276.3.Y68 2006
001.4'226—dc22 2006044265
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
We dedicate this book to our wives,
Patty, Mar, and Martha
St. Valentine s Day
14 February 2006
seeing data
first you see your data for what they seem to be
then you ask them if it's so
are you what you seem to be?
you see with broad expanse, you ask with narrow power
you see and ask and see
and ask and see ... and ask ...
with brush you paint the possibilities
with pen you scribe the probabilities
for in pictures we find insight
while in numbers we find strength
forrest young
Forrest W. Young died a few months before this book was published. He was 65. An
untiring worker, his passion for visual statistics filled him with enthusiasm and joy in
the face of chronic illness. Admired, respected, and loved by his family, friends, and
coworkers, with him expired a restless mind, a notable thinker, and, above all, a good
man.
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Contents
Parti
Introduction
1 Introduction vu
1.1 Visual Statistics 6
1.2 Dynamic Interactive Graphies 7
1.2.1 An Analogy 7
1.2.2 Why Use Dynamic Graphies? 8
1.2.3 The Four Respects 8
1.3 Three Examples 9
1.3.1 Nonrandom Numbers 9
1.3.2 Automobile Efficiency 11
1.3.3 Fidelity and Marriage 14
1.4 History of Statistical Graphics 18
1.4.1 1600-1699: Measurement and Theory 18
1.4.2 1700-1799: New Graphic Forms and Data 19
1.4.3 1800-1899: Modern Graphics and the Golden Age 20
1.4.4 1900-1950: The Dark Ages of Statistical Graphics—
The Golden Age of Mathematical Statistics 21
1.4.5 1950-1975: Rebirth of Statistical Graphics 22
1.4.6 1975-2000: Statistical Graphics Comes of Age 23
1.5 About Software 24
1.5.1 XLisp-Stat 25
1.5.2 Commercial Systems 26
1.5.3 Noncommercial Systems 26
1.5.4 ViSta 27
1.6 About Data 29
vu
Contents
1.6.1 Essential Characteristics 30
1.6.2 Datatypes 32
1.6.3 Datatype Examples 34
1.7 About This Book 34
1.7.1 What This Book Is—and Isn't 34
1.7.2 Organization 34
1.7.3 Who Our Audience Is—and Isn't 37
1.7.4 Comics 38
1.7.5 Thumb-Powered Dynamic Graphics 39
1.8 Visual Statistics and the Graphical User Interface 40
1.9 Visual Statistics and the Scientific Method 40
1.9.1 A Paradigm for Seeing Data 41
1.9.2 About Statistical Data Analysis: Visual or Otherwise 42
2 Examples 45
2.1 Random Numbers 47
2.2 Medical Diagnosis 52
2.3 Fidelity and Marriage 59
Part II
See Data—The Process
3 Interfaces and Environments 73
3.1 Objects 77
3.2 User Interfaces for Seeing Data 78
3.3 Character-Based Statistical Interface Objects 79
3.3.1 Command Line 79
3.3.2 Calculator 80
3.3.3 Program Editor 80
3.3.4 Report Generator 81
3.4 Graphics-Based Statistical Interfaces 81
3.4.1 Datasheets 81
3.4.2 Variable Window 82
3.4.3 Desktop 82
3.4.4 Workmap 83
3.4.5 Selector 87
3.5 Plots 88
3.5.1 Look of Plots 89
3.5.2 Feel of Plots 91
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