Statistics – Page 184 – William M. Briggs

Correlation Implies Causation

A version of this post originally appeared on 20 October 2012. But after a Twitter conversation with our friend @Neuro_Skeptic, it's time for an addition. Comes a Salon article entitled…

Culture Statistics

Sexual Immorality, Low Birth Rates, And Religion

Pew Research released a survey on the Global Views on Morality, asking adults in each of several countries whether the following activities were morally unacceptable: Extramarital Affairs, Homosexuality, Abortion, Premarital…

Philosophy Statistics

Preface: The Philosophy of Probability and Statistics, An Introduction

%This is the Preface of The Philosophy of Probability and Statistics, An Introduction coming before Preface and before the chapters on Truth and Logic. Note the New & Improved title!…

Philosophy Statistics

Is God’s Existence Confirmed By Prophecy Via Probability?

I came across a curious book by Marvin Bittinger, a mathematics educator, called The Faith Equation: One Mathematician's Journey in Christianity. I'm a sucker for books like this, which seek…

Statistics

On UFOs, Salt Intake, And Heart Disease

Michael "State of Fear" Crichton once proposed that UFOs were responsible for global warming. Why not? After all, something caused that record amount of snow in Detroit yesterday. Don't get…

Culture Statistics

Government Per Capita Spending: Up, Up, And Away! Or, Happy Tax Day!

Here it is, folks. Right from WhiteHouse.gov. The amount of Federal Government spending per capita from 1901 to the present and projected out to 2019. Population projections were taken from…

Philosophy Statistics

The Hot Hand: Statistical Fluke Or Genuine Article?

I'll save you hunting through the text. It's a real thing. If you want to know why, read on. If not, you just tell 'em W.M. Briggs sez so, which…

Statistics

Truth: Logic of Probability and Statistics

Here, as promised, is rough, incomplete, outline-only, not-yet-finished, gist-only version of Chapter 1, Truth, for the book tentatively titled The Philosophy of Probability and Statistics (I'm also toying with The…

John W. Garrett on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Yikes. Maybe the Rockefellers, the Hewletts, the Packards, Jeremy Grantham, Eric & Wendy Schmidt, the Waltons, Leo DiCaprio, Mike Bloomberg…
cdquarles on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
There was a wise politician who warned us about the government-media-academia complex over 60 years ago. That's right, the other…
McChuck on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Remember, kids, a scientist is nothing more than an academic with a lab coat. Academics are people who have been…
NLR on The Hubris Of Experts: NIH EditionJune 17, 2025
Certainly, the science-industrial-government-university complex is corrupt. The criticism of it is all warranted. But even worse than expensive and frivolous…
Briggs on The Mathematics Of Conspiracy Theories. Part 1: Black Eye Club ExampleJune 16, 2025
Paul, You're right. It sucked. I'm redoing. JH, Very well. Construct for us a model that does not do what…