Statistics – Page 256 – William M. Briggs

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,…

Philosophy Statistics

Teaching Journal: Day 3

In the real, physical class we learned to count yesterday. Elementary combinatorics, I mean. Figured out what "n!" and "n choose k" and the like meant and how that married…

Neil Jordan on Class 94: Quantifying The UnquantifiableSeptember 17, 2026
At last, an opportunity to join you in the "Quagmire of Marginal Statistics." This and later quote are from memory…
McChuck on The MRS Degree — Guest Post by Johnathan EdwardsSeptember 17, 2026
"South Korea and Japan will no longer exist, perhaps in our lifetime, if they don’t start reproducing or bringing more…
McChuck on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 17, 2026
How many of the breast milk lab techs (doesn't that sound filthy out of context?) were wearing latex gloves, known…
JH on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
The alternative to preserved clay is, sooner rather than later, mouldy clay… Does this mean to create fear? There are…
Cary Cotterman on PFAS and Preservatives: Entrenching Chemophobia through Everyday Stuff — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampSeptember 16, 2026
Growing up in the late 1950s, I played with modeling clay almost every day. Who knows, back then it was…