statistics
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If you gamble, know when to stop
It’s explained in gory detail here. Tip from Thnik Again! Read more
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The Poisson mnemonic
“Mnemonic” is mnemonic for the Poisson distribution. I give this a Geek2. Tip from the Endeavor. Read more
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Simpson’s Paradox bites Paul Krugman on the ass
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman makes an undergrad mistake in educational statistics, and Iowahawk takes time out from redneck hotrodding to call him on it, with deadly effect. Best line ever in a statistics post: “Mr. Krugman (please note – I don’t call anyone “Doctor” unless they can write me a prescription for drugs) doesn’t Read more
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Regression revelation
Here’s a clever reformulation of simple least-squares regression that estimates slope as a weighted average of pairwise slopes. Too cool! Read more
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Here there be monsters
Nicholas Taleb (of The Black Swan fame) describes the Fourth Quadrant and the limits of statistics. I have nothing against economists: you should let them entertain each others with their theories and elegant mathematics, and help keep college students inside buildings. But beware: they can be plain wrong, yet frame things in a way to Read more
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Not quite ready for prime time
This sounds like a great innovation, using Raman spectroscopy to detect melanoma. But let’s look a little deeper at the preliminary results. First, the developers claim that in 274 known cases of melanoma, the device detected all 274 of them, which gives and estimated test sensitivity of 100%, which is patent bullshit; nothing in this Read more
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Canuck statistician cracks the lottery
A Canadian statistician cracks the code for scratch-off tickets. His discovery suggests there’s more than a few evil geniuses out there doing the same. Tip from the Geek Press. Read more
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The Statisticians’ X-Prize
Biostatistics just got a lot more interesting with the announcement of the $3 million Merkin Prize. Tip from the Geek Press. Read more
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Transparency, thy name is Texas
The Texas Tribune has a wonderful database of (Texas) government employee salaries, searchable of course. Give yourself a big surprise by searching for “Ricardo Romo” (current UTSA President). Read more
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Brains per buck
The Center for American Progress has mapped every school district in the nation according to educational return on investment. How does your school district measure up? Tip from Joanne Jacobs. Read more
The Random Texan 