The Internet can be a wonderful resource for all types of information including quantitative data. The Internet is accessible, both for those who want to obtain information and for those who want to make data available. Since there is so much readily accessible information, Internet users must learn to filter the data they find on the World Wide Web, because the providers of information may misuse numbers and mathematics in order to appear convincing. Therefore, Internet users should learn to evaluate data carefully, critically, and even skeptically.

To start, your local librarian could be of invaluable assistance in helping you discriminate between useful Internet sources of information and those web sites that would be a waste of time to visit. Remember that anyone can publish a web page on the Internet, and many web sites may be of little value in a...