Introduction — Economics STD 11 Commerce — Question

Common sense is a very valuable pre-requisite to the usage of statistics. Statistics should be in the right hands, i.e., if it goes in wrong hands of people lacking complete knowledge, experience and common sense it is likely to be misused. It can also spread disaster due to its misuse. Example of the foolish father, who knew the average depth of the river to be crossed calculated the average height of his family members. His wrong conclusion about average height of his family members led to the drowning of some members of his family (his children) while crossing the river. So it was the lack of common sense on the part of the father which spread disaster. It was not the fault of statistical method used but the lack of common sense on the part of the father.