My copy (4th edition 1982) contains the following entry that I think
remarkably wrong. It appears to rival the Adulterer's bible!
mode The mode was originally conceived of as that value of the variate
which is possessed by the greatest number of members of the population
[OK so far]. ... The concept is essentially of use only for continuous
distributions [EH?], although it can be extended to the discontinuous
case [definition of discrete variate says "see discontinuous variate";
surely they are different concepts?]. ... There may thus be more than
one mode of a distribution, though the practical occurrence of
multimodality is comparatively rare [EH? almost all the data we see has
mixed sexes, mixed age groups, mixed social groups with potentially
different modes].
Has this changed in the 5th or 6th editions?
R Allan Reese
Senior statistician, Cefas
The Nothe, Weymouth DT4 8UB
Tel: +44 (0)1305 206614 -direct
Fax: +44 (0)1305 206601
www.cefas.co.uk
***********************************************************************************
This email and any attachments are intended for the named recipient only. Its unauthorised use, distribution, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you have received it in error, please destroy all copies and notify the sender. In messages of a non-business nature, the views and opinions expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation from which it is sent. All emails may be subject to monitoring.
***********************************************************************************
You may leave the list at any time by sending the command
SIGNOFF allstat
to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.
|