Share, mean, sample, spread — the words without which a figure in a text cannot be placed.
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From these 50 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
Two languages named the same data point and chose two different pictures. French calls it une valeur aberrante, and the adjective comes from Latin aberrare, built out of ab, away, and errare, to wander — the same errare behind « error » and « erratic » and behind French errer, to roam. The French name therefore says what the value did: it strayed away from where the others are. English named it by position instead. An « outlier » is what lies out, outside the rest, and the word had that plain spatial sense — a piece detached from the mass it belongs to — long before it reached a scatter plot. English does own the other root, « aberration », but has parked it in optics, where a lens shows « chromatic aberration », and in conduct, where a lapse is « an aberration »; it never means a stray number. So the two terms are less translations of one another than two verdicts: the French one treats the value as a wanderer, the English one as a neighbour standing apart. French will also say une donnée atypique, which is milder and accuses the value of nothing.
The words
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Verb (1)
stagnerto stagnateVerbB2
Les ventes stagnent depuis l’été.Sales have been stagnating since the summer.
Le premier quartile dit où commence le quart le plus bas.The first quartile says where the bottom quarter begins.
l’écart typethe standard deviationNoun (m)B2
L’écart type dit à quel point les valeurs s’écartent.The standard deviation says how far the values lie apart.
le tirage au sortthe random drawNoun (m)B2
Le tirage au sort porte sur mille personnes.The random draw covers a thousand people.
l’institut de sondagethe polling organisationNoun (m)B2
L’institut de sondage a travaillé en une seule journée.The polling organisation did the work in a single day.
l’intervalle de confiancethe confidence intervalNoun (m)B2
L’intervalle de confiance contient encore zéro.The confidence interval still contains zero.
le tauxthe rateNoun (m)B2
Le taux se calcule sur douze mois.The rate is worked out over twelve months.
le point de pourcentagethe percentage pointNoun (m)B2
La part est passée de vingt à vingt-cinq, soit cinq points de pourcentage.The proportion went from twenty to twenty-five, that is five percentage points.
le graphiquethe chartNoun (m)B2
Le graphique commence à quatre-vingts, pas à zéro.The chart begins at eighty and not at zero.
l’axethe axisNoun (m)B2
L’axe vertical n’est pas légendé.The vertical axis carries no label.
l’arrondithe roundingNoun (m)B2
L’arrondi explique la somme à cent un.The rounding explains the total of a hundred and one.
l’ordre de grandeurthe order of magnitudeNoun (m)B2
L’ordre de grandeur suffit pour décider.The order of magnitude is enough to decide by.
le pourcentagethe percentageNoun (m)B2
Le pourcentage est donné sans base de calcul.The percentage is given with no base to calculate from.
l’effectifthe number of casesNoun (m)B2
L’effectif est trop faible pour conclure.The number of cases is too small to draw a conclusion.
le biais de sélectionthe selection biasNoun (m)B2
Le biais de sélection fausse le résultat dès le départ.The selection bias distorts the result from the start.
le questionnairethe questionnaireNoun (m)B2
Le questionnaire oriente déjà la réponse.The questionnaire steers the answer already.
le seuil de significationthe significance thresholdNoun (m)B2
Le résultat passe tout juste le seuil de signification.The result only just crosses the significance threshold.
