Statistics – Page 207 – William M. Briggs

Time Series Aren’t Easy: Tornado Deaths Example

Time series are the most abused statistics in the physical sciences. (It's an endless, raucous, peer-reviewed contest for the worst in the "soft sciences.") The Mann problem (is that a…

Philosophy Statistics

Physical Probability Doesn’t Exist

There have been many attempts to tie probability to physical chance. Here, briefly and for discussion, is why I think all of them fail. Ontology does not recapitulate epistemology Let…

Culture Statistics

A New Possible Solution Of Fermi’s Paradox

What is the probability the following proposition is true? ``There are rational beings other than humans in the universe." Well, given the evidence of angels, who are rational non-human beings,…

Philosophy Statistics

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…

JH on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 9, 2026
The right answer to any and all questions much always include this: the mind of the author of the questions.…
C-Marie on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 8, 2026
Very fun, Matt!! God bless, C-Marie
Philip Rogan on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 8, 2026
May be showing my lack of IQ: 2 + 2 = 4; 4 x 2 = 8. 5 + 5…
NLR on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 8, 2026
You explained the point clearly, that any question involves assumptions about its meaning and how it should be answered. If…
Cary D Cotterman on The Ultimate IQ Test: Guessing the Author’s Mind and Escaping the Infinity of AnswersJune 8, 2026
In the absence of knowing if the author intended some more complex formula, and what it might be, the simplest…