Statistics – Page 296 – William M. Briggs

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…

Statistics

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

See the news box to the left. I wrote this long ago and never used it. I do not love it. But since I am so busy, I haven't the…

Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

All statistics were gathered from this DOD site. 2010 numbers were current as of 5 June this year; they were not part of the plots below. In 1983, the year…

RW Pearson on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
In liberal California, I luckily live in Orange County, where our good Sheriff is issuing CCW permits and they are…
Cary D Cotterman on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
For murderers and certain other committers of heinous crimes, I am for trials and death sentences on Fridays, the weekend…
Chad Jessup on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
How about three strikes, and you're dead, which of course would only be for the very violent criminals. Why warehouse…
shawn marshall on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
General Pyotr Wrangel in his bokk "Always with Honor" immediately stopped the predation by his own troo[s upon peasants by…
McChuck on Capital Punishment Deters Crime More Than The Death PenaltyMay 11, 2026
I firmly support the concept of "three strikes and you're out" as it applies to capital punishment for a series…