From numero phobic to numero philic !

We often develop a dislike or even look down or undermine the importance of certain branches of knowledge.This happens mostly out of our ignorance in that branch  but certainly not because of our indignation or haughtiness.I must confess that one such subject which I used to think is of lesser importance, is ‘Statistics’.But I understand the height of my ignorance. I believe that figures speak volumes ! Figures compel us to think and analyse and help us to search for a probable cause effect link. Figures provide insights to arrive at certain conclusions which otherwise may not be possible. 

 Whether we talk of the GDP data of  trillions of dollars of a nation or the mind blowing findings of the data of observations that estimate a 2 seconds increase in the length of the daily in 100 years’ time due to changes in the earth’s magnetic field, or the data of the weather profiles of the  past decades that help a logical extrapolation with modelling leading to precise forecasts etc ,alas ,what a mine of wealth of vital information needed from an individual level to that of nations too! The prominent place gained by most promising and challenging fields of “Big Data” & “Data Analytics” is a good example to substantiate the views expressed.

 

In the beginning of the unfolding of global data on the pandemic,when there were hardly 6000 cases in Africa, with lakhs of cases reported all over, the figures drew my attention and I myself tried to look at the link between the lethality of the UV light and the survival of virus. My perception was simply based on the fact that Africa passes through equator and as such, should have greater incidence of UV light.Accordingly, I started comparing the UVI values (ultra violet indices) for places like Singapore ( with a very low number of cases ),New York ( with a large number of reported cases) etc taking the values with latitudes,longitudes and altitudes from the tables.Though it supported my logic to some extent at that stage, the values could not be obtained for many places except for a few.Later, a study by a reputed university in the US was carried out on the effect of UV rays suggesting a link between the UV light and its lethal effect on virus but as we see now, the various findings still have limited roles and perhaps need to be carried out taking several factors concomitantly. All in all, we do not lead a wholesome life without dealing with and developing a love for numbers !