Statistics – Page 246 – William M. Briggs

Why Do Statisticians Answer Silly Questions That No One Ever Asks?

Julian Champkin, editor of Significance magazine somehow came across the percipient insights of yours truly and asked me to write l'article controversé. Which I did. And with gusto. Champkin, a…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 11—Rewrite, Red Wine, Hat Clips

We started by learning that probability is hard and not always quantifiable. For instance, I imagine many of you would have judged it more likely than not that the Supreme…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 9—Hypothesis Testing: Part II

A review. We have sales data from two campaigns, A and B, data in which we choose (as a premise) to quantify our uncertainty with normal distributions. We assume the…

Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 8—Hypothesis Testing: Part I

Hypothesis testing nicely encapsulates all that is wrong with frequentist statistics. It is a procedure which hides the most controversial assumption/premise. It operates under a "null" belief which nobody believes.…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 7

The joke is old and hoary and so well known that I risk the reader's ire for repeating it. But it contains a damning truth. Most academic statistical studies are…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 6

(I'm assuming you have been reading previous posts. If not, do so.) We still want this: (1) Pr (Distance > 1 meter | normal with m and s specified)…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 5

Let's make sure we grasped yesterday's lesson. Emails and comments suggest we have not. These concepts are hardest for those who have only had classical training. We want to know…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 4

Today is the quietest day, a time when all is still, a moment when nary a voice is raised and, quite suddenly, appointments are remembered, people have to be seen,…

Brian (bulaoren) on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
As it happens, Stephen Pinker and I were at the same university, around the same time. No, I don't recall…
bob sykes on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
Humanism might be a better guide, if you are a high-IQ Greek philospher like Aristotle, or even Nietzsche. But for…
Uncle Mike on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
"...the only metric that matters is how many souls make it to Heaven..." This metric is tough to measure. There's…
JH on The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s FollyMarch 17, 2026
What Pinker missed was that if a religion is true, then living by its tenets is best. What does it…
C-Marie on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 17, 2026
For how long was the covid vaccine tested before being released, , AND FOR HOW LONG IS A VACCINE SUPPOSED…