Statistics – Page 284 – William M. Briggs

Finitism, Physics, Cellular Automata: The Universe as Logic

In no way is this article meant to be complete. It is more in the way of musings---a crude introduction---so that we can see where to go. Is the universe…

Philosophy Statistics

Postmodernism and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Since I am, by nature, a compassionate individual, I had been thinking of how we might Sokal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). It is for their…

Statistics

Feigned Surprises of the Week: Journolist and Our New Tax

Said the main-stream journalist on Journolist, "If they of the right wing don't behave and treat our Golden Boy properly, we'll call them racists. It matters not whom we pick…

Fun Statistics

A Bust—I mean must—Read; Or, An Evolution in Bra Sizes

"Excuse me, miss. Would you care to participate in science?" Sometimes being a statistician is enviable. In a flash of scientific brilliance, Australian statisticians have just completed a massive study…

Fun Statistics

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

Part II of the Two-Envelope problem was not too friendly, so here's something that is. Via HotAir, I came across the site Marginal Revolution, in which was featured a graph…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

Read Part I first. We are in the peek first game here. The distribution of N When X is odd, and all X are discrete, we know we should always…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Another probability "paradox", the two-envelope problem1, goes like this: Before you are two envelopes, A and B. One of them contains $X and the other $2X (which is equivalent to…

Statistics

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

David Blackwell, who died two weeks ago, was one of the first mainstream statisticians to "go Bayesian." And for that and his unique skill in clearly explaining difficult ideas, we…

Briggs on Class 70: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Right WayNovember 8, 2025
Darin, There is no interval around a probability (with esoteric exceptions not of interest to us). All your evidence is…
Darin Johnson on Class 70: Most Claims Of “Controlled For” Are Wrong: The Right WayNovember 8, 2025
I'm struggling to extrapolate this to the case when the thing I'm estimating is a probability. Let's say I observe…
hudbwu on Changes Are Coming: Our Return to 1970sNovember 7, 2025
I didn't come here for ~two months. Then I come back and ... *shit's gotten weird, son.* o.O At least…
Northbrae on Diversity Patrol Scanning Citations For VictimsNovember 7, 2025
Cheers from Florida, land of the ugly beasts known as womanatees. Meritocracy is now Ancient Herstory. Sheesh.
RANDOM TIDS & BITS- Thu 3/20/24- – WAXX on The Sports Illustrated curse and regression to the meanNovember 6, 2025
[…] Illustrated” once determined that their cover is a JINX 37% of the time. So about two out of every five…