Statistics – Page 108 – William M. Briggs

Yes, There Is A Hot Hand In Basketball

On the Second of March in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Sixty-Two, well before the sport became another venue for pencil-necked political correctness, a basketball player…

Class Statistics

The Doomsday Argument Is Doomed: Flawed Application Of Bayes

The WSJ on 27 June 2019 published an essay by William Poundstone on the hoary Doomsday Argument. Many are fooled by this equation, which contains a fundamental, even glaring, flaw.…

Statistics

The Epidemiologist Fallacy Strikes Again — Pesticides & Autism

Long-time readers will recall the epidemiologist fallacy is a shotgun marriage of the ecological fallacy and wee p-values. Make that and/or confidence intervals. For confidence intervals are equivalent to p-values…

Class Statistics

So-Called Random Numbers And Encryption: Update With Real-World Example

Psst. Hey, buddy. Word to the wise: "GQNZWZURUDPBFWDMEGBYIXGBGZRSVNHWOIQPPSH GXUVMZ". Keep it secret. That odd string of letters and spaces (well, once space) contains an encrypted message. In order to read…

Statistics

Case Study Of How Easy It Is To Go Wrong

We used to talk a lot about the amygdala here: Yet Another Study "Proves" Liberal, Conservative Brain Differences (wee ps, amygdalas), Scientists Suddenly Discover Men Don't Understand Women (wee ps,…

Class Statistics

When Testing Parameters Might Make Sense

This example is derived from ongoing conversations with a colleague, and portions of this post (mathematified) might show up in a paper. The genesis of this example is from Ron…

Statistics

SAT’s Adversity Score New Way To Enforce Racial Quotas

The College Board will soon attach Pity Points to SAT scores. The Pity Points will be used to suggest that those who scored poorly did not in fact score poorly…

Statistics

An Infinity of Null Hypotheses — Another Anti-P-Value Argument

This is extracted from this set of papers, which should be read in full. An ordinary regression model is written mu = beta_0x_1 + ... + beta_0x_p, where mu…

JH on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 22, 2025
Since your definition of p-values is not entirely correct, FYI - understanding p-values and different meanings of p-value
John Pate on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 22, 2025
To be fair to R.A. Fisher he warned people were over-enthusiastic about applying the tools he provided. He wasn't as…
McChuck on Class 62: Die P-value, Die! Die! Die!August 21, 2025
"Faster, pussycat! Kill! Kill!" You can't repeat the mantra enough.
gareth on The Key Role Of Probability & Chance In ScienceAugust 20, 2025
"I have answered three six questions, and that is enough," Said his father Briggs; "don't give yourself airs! Do you…
Uncle Mike on Research: Solar Activity Causes High Blood PressureAugust 20, 2025
There is a strong, undeniable correlation between Leftism (Marxism, Democrat party membership, Wokeism, MSM, etc.) and the use and adherence…