Search Results for “probability” – Page 116

How many false studies in medicine are published every year?

Many, even most, studies that contain a statistical component use frequentist, also called classical, techniques. The gist of those methods is this: data is collected, a probability model for that…

Book review

Calculated Risks: How to know when numbers deceive you: Gerd Gigerenzer

Gerd Gigerenzer, Simon and Schuster, New York, 310 pp., ISBN 0-7432-0556-1, $25.00 Should healthy women get regular mammograms to screen for breast cancer? The surprising answer, according to this wonderful…

Statistics

Asinine comparison of holocaust deniers and honest scientists

Some guy named Joel Connelly at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has written another one of those "We must do something now" global warming articles. What makes his piece distinct is that…

Statistics

A safe, but misleading, prediction about global warming

Reuters's, on 3 January, had this headline, "2008 to be in top 10 warmest years say forecasters." A quote: 2008 will be slightly cooler than recent years globally but will…

Philosophy

What can we learn about global warming from poor reporting?

From today's Syndney Morning Herald comes the headline: "Global warming to impact health". First, by impact the reporter almost certainly means influence, a more accurate, but far less energetic and…

Fun Statistics

The Sports Illustrated curse and regression to the mean

Due to overwhelming demand, today's column is a classic reprint. This originally appeared on 18 January 2008. The headlines of today's New York Daily News is CURSES! It seems the…

Statistics

National Post says statisticians needed too

Canada's National Post, in a piece from a little more than a year ago, made a call for more statisticians to be involved in climate change research, much as the…

Statistics

AMS conference report: day 2

The convention center in New Orleans is impossibly overcrowded; the last time I saw lanes of people so thick was at the Ann Arbor Arts Fair many years ago. And…

Greg Ostman on New Paper Says Flu Vax Increases Chance Of Flu: Let’s LookMay 14, 2025
All Astro physics to me but how about just take the numbers of vaxed and unvaxed then see how many…
Paul Murphy on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 14, 2025
Wow, what is that the naive outsider's view? In reality: 1 - you don't get tenure unless your name is…
cdquarles on The Nuances and Challenges of Federal Funding for Research — Guest Post by An AcademicMay 14, 2025
It is laughable that the premise that "commercial" funding of research is corrupting, but government funding isn't. What was that…
cdquarles on Eggs and ‘PFAS-Easter’ or Selling Fear on the Day of Resurrection — Guest Post by Jaap HanekampMay 14, 2025
Bingo, SSG Briggs. List for me, in order of mass with the most mass first, all of the chemicals in…
hudbwu on Academics Call Pregnancy A DiseaseMay 13, 2025
A moment of silence for all the pain and suffering Briggs endured to bring us this comedic piece. Trully, greatest…