Working With Numbers and Statistics: A Handbook for Journalists

Authors Charles Livingston and Paul Voakes developed this resource book to improve journalistic writing and reporting, enabling journalists to:
*make accurate, reliable computations, which in turn enables one to make relevant comparisons, put facts into perspective, and lend important context to stories;
*recognize inaccurate presentations, whether willfully spun or just carelessly relayed;
*ask appropriate questions about numerical matters;
*translate complicated numbers for viewers and readers in ways they can readily understand;
*understand computer-assisted reporting; and
*write livelier, more precise pieces through the use of numbers.

The math is presented in a journalistic context throughout, enabling readers to see how the procedures will come into play in their work.

Working With Numbers and Statistics is designed as a reference work for journalism students developing their writing and reporting skills. It will also serve professionals as a useful tool to improve their understanding and use of numbers in news stories.

In 1759 the British mathematician Francis Maseres wrote that negative numbers "darken the very whole doctrines of the equations and make dark of the things which are in their nature excessively obvious and simple". Because of their dark and mysterious nature, Maseres concluded that negative numbers did not exist, as did his contemporary, William Friend. However, other mathematicians were braver. They took a leap into the unknown and decided that negative numbers could be used during calculations, as long as they had disappeared upon reaching the solution.