Statistics – Page 167 – William M. Briggs

Grandmaster: Men Better At Chess. Or, Data And The Underdetermination Of Theory

Update Note the New & Improved title! Chess Grandmaster Nigel Short caused a stink, reaching oooo-weee! but not quite burn-him! levels, when he said that men and women are different…

Statistics

The Logic Puzzle That Is “Stumping The Internet.” Update: Now With Solution

The Washington Post thinks the puzzle above is hideously difficult and says that it has become an "obsession". The writer there certainly finds it sweat-inducing: "As the problem spread far…

Philosophy Statistics

Space’s 10 Mistakes People Make When Arguing Science

Reader Ken pointed us to Space.com's click-me-click-me! article "The 10 Mistakes People Make When Arguing Science". Since everybody loves numbered lists, I'll duplicate their efforts here, using their mistakes. Isn't…

Fun Statistics

Masters Statistics & (Some) Predictions

Here's a view of the winning scores from par since the inception of the tournament. The early years saw little variability, but since the 60s there were a lot more…

Statistics

P-Value Hacking Is Finally Being Noticed

Since I'm on the road, all typos today are free of charge. Some reasonably good news to report. A peer-reviewed paper: "The fickle P value generates irreproducible results" by Lewis…

Statistics

What Evidence Would Persuade You That Man-Made Climate Change Is Real?

Somebody named Ronald Bailey (he isn't anybody I know) at the inaptly named Reason asked the good question which heads this post. Second thought: the question is awful. No scientist…

Culture Statistics

Global Warming Hypocrisy: Or, Science Is Politics

Lefties take money, too In an interview with far-left New York Times, activist and part-time scientist Michael Oppenheimer says "nothing follows" from his taking moola from the EDF (Environmental Defense…

Statistics

Bill Nye The Science Guy Confuses Scientific Uncertainty Versus Doubt

On the road, so something quick. Reader Paul Mullen writes: Briggs, A fellow at the salt mine was thoughtful enough to leave a copy in the break room of April's…

C. P. Benischek on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
Evolution. As Stephen Jay Gould once sort of said, the lack of a single example in the fossil record of…
John Pate on The Unseen Bias In All ScienceJuly 15, 2025
Sigh. Just read a lot more from the London School. The first thing you have to decide, before you even…
Anonymous on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
Anything to do with extraterrestrial aliens, aka God, visiting and messing with humans using their superior technology. Plenty of humans…
C-Marie on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 15, 2025
I do not have a clue, but I am sooo impressed with so many replies and amazing understanding! God bless,…
polybius on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
Artificial "intlligence". These "AI" entities are machines. Software running on an electronic computer. They can never be intelligent, nor can…