Statistics – Page 304 – William M. Briggs

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…

Fun Statistics

World Cup Predictions Verified

All that was missing was the water for the players to plunge into. Still, referee Howard Webb must be a fan of the aquatic and artistic sport of diving, and…

Fun Statistics

The Predictive Skills of Octopii: Paul’s World Cup Prognostications

In Detroit, for that glorious game of soccer-on-ice-with-sticks, we---I still say "we"; you can never separate yourself from your birthplace---know what to do with octopuses, octopii as were: We toss…

hudbwu on Academics Call For The Killing Of Babies In “After-Birth” AbortionsOctober 8, 2026
Does a spematozoid have an aim? Then frustrating it's aim (by ejaculating wherever) would be harmful to the spermatozoid. Interesting…
John Jorgensen on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 6, 2026
It’s not the machines that are of concern but the models they run with great speed and access to huge…
James on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Assuming a 100% materialist world view, one must conclude that one's OWN thought processes are just so many particles exchanging…
Tellme on There Are No Such Thing As Gays (Or Transexuals)October 5, 2026
Other than impotent boys before puberty, and old men with low testosterone, all humans masturbate on purpose, or by accident.…
Brian (bulaoren) on Top 10 Reasons AI Will Never Become Superintelligence: It Won’t Destroy Nor Save UsOctober 5, 2026
Perhaps "Artificial Intelligence" is like an Artificial sex-doll; not the real thing, but close enough to get the job done.