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Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education pp 675–681Cite as

Probabilistic and Statistical Thinking

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Definition

In the field of mathematics education, probabilistic thinking, statistical thinking, and probabilistic and statistical thinking are umbrella terms. Often the terms are accompanied with related terms, such as reasoning, understanding, conceptions, teaching, learning, and literacy. For example, the phrase statistical thinking, reasoning, and literacy is widely adopted in statistics education. Ultimately, the terms are used to identify research and practice associated with topics such as randomness, likelihood, data, chance, uncertainty, and risk. Although probability and statistics are inextricably linked, the same cannot be said for research regarding probabilistic and statistical thinking in the fields of probability and statistics education.

Probabilistic and Statistical Thinking

Formally or informally, attempts at investigating whether or not human beings are innate probabilists and/or statisticians, by and large, cement the popular notion that humans are not necessarily...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, College of Humanities and Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Bharath Sriraman

  2. College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Egan J. Chernoff

Authors
  1. Bharath Sriraman
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  2. Egan J. Chernoff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bharath Sriraman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Centre for Mathematics Education, London South Bank University, London, UK

    Stephen Lerman

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Bharath Sriraman

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Sriraman, B., Chernoff, E.J. (2020). Probabilistic and Statistical Thinking. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_100003

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