William M. Briggs

A Bust—I mean must—Read; Or, An Evolution in Bra Sizes

"Excuse me, miss. Would you care to participate in science?" Sometimes being a statistician is enviable. In a flash of scientific brilliance, Australian statisticians have just completed a massive study…

Fun Statistics

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

Part II of the Two-Envelope problem was not too friendly, so here's something that is. Via HotAir, I came across the site Marginal Revolution, in which was featured a graph…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

Read Part I first. We are in the peek first game here. The distribution of N When X is odd, and all X are discrete, we know we should always…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Another probability "paradox", the two-envelope problem1, goes like this: Before you are two envelopes, A and B. One of them contains $X and the other $2X (which is equivalent to…

Culture Fun

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

Coming tomorrow: the infamous two-envelope problem, solved! More mathematical constructivism. But today, as it's Sunday, something light and airy...and non taxing. A "comedy rock" group which bills itself as the…

Statistics

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

David Blackwell, who died two weeks ago, was one of the first mainstream statisticians to "go Bayesian." And for that and his unique skill in clearly explaining difficult ideas, we…

Statistics

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

See the news box to the left. I wrote this long ago and never used it. I do not love it. But since I am so busy, I haven't the…

Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

All statistics were gathered from this DOD site. 2010 numbers were current as of 5 June this year; they were not part of the plots below. In 1983, the year…

McChuck on The Various Solutions To Black Crime AnalyzedSeptember 13, 2025
@John - If you don't know already, you haven't been paying attention for, oh, your entire life. But you probably…
John Pate on The Various Solutions To Black Crime AnalyzedSeptember 13, 2025
I need a bit more of an explanation about "woke whites" - what exactly they are and what motivates them.…
cdquarles on The Various Solutions To Black Crime AnalyzedSeptember 12, 2025
Where I grew up, in the last days of Jim Crow, no-one really cared that much about skin color. It…
cdquarles on The False Expectation Of PermanenceSeptember 12, 2025
If the definition of an ice age, geologically speaking, is a large mass of perennially persistent ice over a substantial…
THVRSDAY LATE-EVENING EDITION - BIG PVLPIT on Use The Tools The Left Created Against ThemSeptember 11, 2025
[…] Nick Sorter on XFinis Disputatio – Ronald L. Jelinek, Ph.D., at Catholic World Report(NSFW) Use The Tools The Left…

William M. Briggs

Use The Tools The Left Created Against Them

The Various Solutions To Black Crime Analyzed

The False Expectation Of Permanence

Astonishing Climate Change Predictions!

Class 64: No Confidence (Interval) In Parameters

What Are The Chances 6 AfD Candidates Die Before An Election?

Funniest Thing To Happen In Science In Years

Pray For The Downfall, Ruin, Confusion & Conversion Of The Doctors & Experts Causing Transanity

Class 63: My Correlation Is Causation Because My P Is Wee

The Right & Wrong Way To Do (Electromagnetic) Science: Interview With Hans G. Schantz

World Ends In 25 years! Towns Become Slaughterhouses! Peter Thiel Disguises Self As Sheep!

Deniers Refusing To Die From Climate Change Heat Waves

Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!

Research: Solar Activity Causes High Blood Pressure

The Key Role Of Probability & Chance In Science

On The Cult Of The Victim & Why We Must Reject It

Class 61: Does This Guy Have ESP? II

Funding Increases To Foster Even More Cheating In Science

Compulsory Moral Bioenhancement Should Be Covert Says Academic Who Says Ticks Should Be Genetically Modified To Stop You Eating Meat

Lying Increases Trust In Science, Says Academic

Class 60: Does This Guy Have ESP? 1

Use The Tools The Left Created Against Them

The Various Solutions To Black Crime Analyzed

A Bust—I mean must—Read; Or, An Evolution in Bra Sizes

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification