Statistics – Page 203 – William M. Briggs

Scientists Discover Men Enjoy Looking At Women’s Breasts.

Regular readers will recall there are two main kinds of bad statistics. First is when the technique has been done wrong or is misapplied. Errors of this kind comprise only…

Philosophy Statistics

What Statistics Really Is: Part II

Read Part I, Part Paradox I claimed, and it is true, that all statistical problems could be written $latex \Pr(p|q)$, where p is a proposition of interest and q is…

Philosophy Statistics

What Statistics Really Is: Paradox Digression

Read Part I We're taking a small digression to answer a question put by Deborah Mayo in Part I, pointing to this article on her site. Mayo should be on…

Philosophy Statistics

What Statistics Really Is: Part I

It's so simple that you'll think I'm kidding. Worse, the way I'll show it is such a radical departure from the manner in which you're used to thinking about probability…

Statistics

Statistics Talk: Chances Are You’re Doing It Wrong

The problem with statistics is the astonishing amount of magical thinking tolerated. A statistician---or his apprentice; this means you---waving a formula over a dataset is little different than an alchemist…

Philosophy Statistics

What Scientific Idea Is Ready For Retirement? Hypothesis Tests

Edge asked a whopping number of named persons which ideas are ready to be expunged from the thing that is Science. Somehow my invitation got lost in the aether, an…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

Malthus’ Proof That Welfare Leads To Increasing Need For Welfare

First person that giggles at my hand drawings gets a mean look. My computing facilities are somewhat lacking... This of course is only a cartoon, but a helpful one of…

Statistics

About That Lefties-Drink-More-Than-Conservatives Study

"Honey? Did you meet our new neighbors?" "Not yet. Why?" "I'm a little worried about them. They have an 'I heart NPR' sticker on their Prius." "Oh, God. Pass me…

Cary D Cotterman on Happy New Year!January 1, 2026
Happy New Year, Briggs. Keep up the good work.
McChuck on Happy New Year!January 1, 2026
Happy New Year! May your health and finances be stable or improving.
Johnno on Why The Drake Equation FailsJanuary 1, 2026
The Drake Equation, like Da Theory of da Evolution, and Relativity Math-a-Magics with Time-pretzel-balloons, all exist to keep Atheism afloat…
Johnno on How Did We Do In Our 2025 Predictions?December 31, 2025
I was right about the right! Conservative estimating does work! Always aim for mediocrity! The formula for success! Or at…
John Pate on Why The Drake Equation FailsDecember 31, 2025
Seems to me the obvious reason for the state of the world as we see it is that aliens are…