There was a great article published last month discussing risk communication. Statistician Regina Nuzzo is quoted as saying Human brains hate probability, they hate ambiguity, they hate the uncertainty. We’re just not wired to deal with this sort of thing very well. Science journalist Tara Haelle explains that it's difficult to separate reporting from influence. She notes that covering polls … [Read more...]
Statistical intuition
The Monty Hall problem is a probability puzzle based on an old US game show. You are shown three doors. One contains a car, while the other two contains goats. The game show host invites you to pick a door. He then opens one of the doors containing a goat and asks, "Do you want to stick with your original selection or switch to the remaining door?" What should you do...assuming that you … [Read more...]
Guess the Correlation
People find it difficult to intuitively gauge the level of correlation between variables. Guess the Correlation is an 80s-style video game that lets you flex your estimation muscles. Just be aware that it doesn't seem to present negative correlations, so you'll have to intuit those elsewhere. … [Read more...]
Mathematics & Statistics Awareness Month
April is Mathematics & Statistics Awareness Month. Let's celebrate it by making sure we embrace statistics in our data science projects. It's not just about Python, folks! … [Read more...]
Sharks are definitely scarier than mosquitos
Bill Gates retweeted a World Health Organization infographic showing that mosquitos kill vastly more people than sharks every year---on the order of 100,000 times more. In his tweet Bill captioned the infographic with, "Why I would rather encounter a shark in the wild rather than a mosquito." Presumably he's referring to man-eating sharks. This was an informal comment designed to … [Read more...]