AP Statistics Summer Assignment

I’m looking forward to a great year!

A requirement for taking the AP Statistics exam is a calculator capable of performing
statistical analysis. We will work in class with the TI-84. I highly recommend that everyone
have their own TI-84 Plus CE calculator to work with at home and in class. (The CE edition
is optional: it has a full color screen which is very nice, but not necessary.)
Casio graphing calculators and TI-NSPIRE calculators are also suitable for use in this class,
but you will be responsible for learning how to use them on your own!
Make a Khan Academy account if you do not already have one.
Other required supplies will be:
 12 folders with prong fasteners (1 for each chapter of study)
 Loose leaf notebook paper
 Pens, pencils, and erasers
Optional supplies are:
 Index cards
 Colored pencils or pens
 Highlighters
Your AP Summer assignment has two parts.

Part 1
Learn a card game.
It must be a game that is played with at least 2 people, and it must be played with a
standard 52 deck of cards with the traditional suits. You must know how to play it well
enough to teach other’s the rules. When we come back in the upcoming school year, I will
be asking about the games you learned, so be prepared!

Part 2
AP Statistics is a reading and writing heavy math class. To prepare for this, choose one of
the books from the list below to read.
Write a reflection on what you read that is at least 2 pages (double-spaced, 1-inch margins,
Times New Roman or Cambria fonts). Your reflection may answer some of the following
questions:
1. What is the main idea of the book?
2. How did the author support their main idea? (give specifics)
3. What ideas or concepts were new to you?
4. What ideas or concepts did you not understand?
5. How did this book make you think about the world differently?
6. How did this book make you excited to learn more about statistics?
Book List
Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos. Hill and Wang
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Levitt &
Dubner. HarperCollins, 2005.
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, by J. A. Paulos. Basic Books, 1995.
The Lady Tasting Tea, by D. Salsburg. Owl Books, 2001.
200% of Nothing, by A. K. Dewdney. John Wiley and Sons, 1993.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by M. Lewis. Norton, 2003
Bringing Down the House: How Six Students Took Vegas for Millions, by Ben Mezrich. Free
Press
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, by N. Taleb.
Thomson, 2004
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by N. Taleb. Thomson, 2007
How to Lie with Statistics, by D. Huff. W. W. Norton, 1952.
Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists,
by J.Best. Univ of California Press, 2001.
More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues, by J. Best.
University of California Press, 2004.
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. Pantheon
Books, 2008
Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact In America, by C. Crossen
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed
Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by S. Johnson
A Cartoon Guide to Statistics, By L. Gonick & W. Smith. Harper, 1993
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by M. Gladwell, Little,
Brown & Co., 2002
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown, & Co 2008
Calculated Risks: How to Know When Numbers Deceive You, by G. Gigerenzer. Simon and
Schuster, 2002
The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, by K.C. Cole