In the Background section, you will find readings and supplementary materials that give a wider perspective to the project. In other sections, the statistical use of the project is made clear. However, before doing any analyses or statistical thinking about the subject, this section enables you to explore the topic to see whether, and how, the project merits further exploration.

The Titanic was the most technologically advanced liner in the world for the year 1912. At 11:40 P.M. on Sunday, April 14 of that year, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in less than three hours. A sequence of mistakes and tragic coincidences resulted in disaster: only 705 of her 2,224 passengers and crew were saved.

Some believe that the rescue procedures used that night unfairly favored the wealthier passengers. In this project, you will use statistical thinking to explore the data behind the disaster to arrive at your own (statistically informed) conclusion.

Explore the following links to find out more about the details surrounding the Titanic disaster.

• A site called 'Smoking Gun' (see the References section for more information) contains this letter in which the dock union criticizes evacuation procedures. This is a first-hand reaction to the controversy surrounding the evacuation. Given this information, it seems an interesting question to explore. In the next section (Data Views), you can find out more about the data and come to your own conclusion.

  You can also link to the parent site to find more historical information on the Titanic.

• Here you will find the Chronology of the voyage
  and an animation of the disaster from Philip Hind.
  You can find out more by visiting the Encyclopedia Titanica which contains many links to information on the Titanic.

• The National Geographic Society developed a site where you can explore the Titanic, and see what recent expeditions have discovered.

• People have been interested in the Titanic for many years. Recently much more has been learned--explore the RMS Titanic Inc. site to learn about the expedition to research the Titanic.