REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

• The shape and distribution of data informs the appropriateness and effectiveness of a policy meant to change that data.
• A 1991 study of the Los Angeles Police Department found that the department’s complaints of excessive force were not normally distributed; instead, the vast majority of officers received no complaints or very few, and a small number of officers were responsible for the vast majority of complaints.
• Effective policy solutions won’t necessarily be palatable or feel fair to society.

MATH OBJECTIVES

• Given a graphical display of univariate data, use the mean, median, and mode to describe the “typical” case
• Analyze and interpret graphical displays of univariate data to answer multi-step problems
• Compare a normal vs. power law distribution, and understand how the shape of a distribution affects real-world policy