Posts tagged “Statistics”
Good idea, failed execution
One of the most common sources of misunderstanding in probability theory is the confusion of an abstract probability distribution with these representations. In an understandable desire to present concrete examples as early as possible, many introductory treatments of probability theory begin immediately with these representations only to end up muddling their relationship with the abstract […]
You aren’t clever. You’re pedantic.
If I say something about math or stats or programming, I can look forward to getting well-actually-ed by a guy. This is especially common on the internet but happens rather often in non-screen mediated interactions, too. It seems that if I don’t copy my point straight out of a textbook, it’s so wrong they must […]
Arguing with the mathematical ‘we’
I can tell I’ve been working on something too long when I start arguing with the mathematical we. You may be wondering, “What (or who) exactly is the mathematical we?” Consider the following for illustrative examples: Hence, from Equation (4.4) we see that P ~ 1/?n Or It is quite intuitive that the limiting probabilities for […]
What I’ve Noticed: Politicians don’t get economics edition
AZ governor and strong supporter of the bad-for-business anti-immigrant law, Jan Brewer, lies about immigrants and her own past. Anyone who grows such lovely hydrangeas couldn’t possibly be a spy! Knowing a little history goes a long way towards refuting people who try to rewrite it. It could also prevent our politicians from making the […]
What I’ve Noticed
Anti-vaxxers are a blast from the past – who knew whooping cough would still be killing people in developed countries in the 21st century? Important information that your intro stats professor likely didn’t mention. While cutting classes and entire programs, reducing pay for already underpaid professors, and laying people off right and left, my university […]