Of course John. Innumeracy is a big problem. For example, the worst
social statistic of all time was
"Since 1950 the number of American Children killed by handguns has doubled
every year."
A completely and totally false assertion. However since most people wont
stop to do the calulation they will accept it and believe this very
misleading statement.
Just in case anybody is wondering why if the above were true that would
mean that in 1990 the number of children killed by handguns was
549,755,813,888
Yes, that is right, just under 550 BILLION kids in 1990 alone!
The above statement actually showed up in a PhD disertation.
Steve
--- John Foster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Subject: Re: Fact or fiction
>
>
> > The only problems with statistics and other forms of applied
> mathematics
> > is the fact that most people are ignorant of these fields and hence
> are
> > not able to spot the BS from the good research.
> >
> > Steve
>
> So you acknowledge the potential for the 'abuse' and 'use' of
> inferential
> statistics?
>
> John
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > --- John Foster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
=====
"In a nutshell, he [Steve] is 100% unadulterated evil. I do not believe in a 'Satan', but this man is as close to 'the real McCoy' as they come."
--Jamey Lee West
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