William M. Briggs

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

Part II of the Two-Envelope problem was not too friendly, so here's something that is. Via HotAir, I came across the site Marginal Revolution, in which was featured a graph…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

Read Part I first. We are in the peek first game here. The distribution of N When X is odd, and all X are discrete, we know we should always…

Philosophy Statistics

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Another probability "paradox", the two-envelope problem1, goes like this: Before you are two envelopes, A and B. One of them contains $X and the other $2X (which is equivalent to…

Culture Fun

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

Coming tomorrow: the infamous two-envelope problem, solved! More mathematical constructivism. But today, as it's Sunday, something light and airy...and non taxing. A "comedy rock" group which bills itself as the…

Statistics

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

David Blackwell, who died two weeks ago, was one of the first mainstream statisticians to "go Bayesian." And for that and his unique skill in clearly explaining difficult ideas, we…

Statistics

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

See the news box to the left. I wrote this long ago and never used it. I do not love it. But since I am so busy, I haven't the…

Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

All statistics were gathered from this DOD site. 2010 numbers were current as of 5 June this year; they were not part of the plots below. In 1983, the year…

Culture Philosophy

‘The Most Dangerous Philosopher in the West’

Extremely busy day, today. I have time for only the merest sketch of a post. The title is not mine, but a label given to Slavoj Zizek, the rock-star communist…

BadThinker on Mark Twain On The Dictatorship Of HealthNovember 24, 2024
And of course Health now also means "medically assisted dying" for those deemed unfit or sad or too white.
Uncle Mike on Mark Twain On The Dictatorship Of HealthNovember 23, 2024
I wish to be clear. I don't need RFKJ or anybody else telling me what I may or may not…
spaceranger on Mark Twain On The Dictatorship Of HealthNovember 23, 2024
I think it was Twain who said that if you don't maintain at least a few bad habits to get…
John Pate on Prominent Academic Asks: When And How Did Statistics Lose Its Way? November 23, 2024
You're a bit hard on old R.A. I vaguely remember reading one of his books. What killed statistics was software,…
John Pate on The Impossibilities Of Quantum ComputingNovember 23, 2024
String Theorists can make a good living with nonsense, so can Quantum Computer enthusiasts. You've just got to hand wave…

William M. Briggs

Mark Twain On The Dictatorship Of Health

The Impossibilities Of Quantum Computing

What Science Can Say About Vaccines: And What It Can’t Say

Bad Predictions Mean Bad Models, Even If You’re A Distinguished Expert

Class 29: Nothing Has A Distribution

Women Let Him Win — Guest Post by Ianto Watt

Trends In Wokeness & Girlbossery In Science

Prominent Academic Asks: When And How Did Statistics Lose Its Way?

Fixing College: Hit Them In The Money, Replace Their Prestige

Class 28: Randomization Redux (Randomization Does Nothing)

If We Are What We Sexually Desire, How About These Curious People?

What The Covid Panic Did To Science

We Win

See You On The Other Side

Class 27: Probability Is In Your Mind, Not Things

How Tim Walz Did Not Know Models Only Say What They’re Told To Say

Hell On Earth: 1978’s Zombie Apocalypse ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ Reviewed

The Decline Of Western Christianity: Gradually Then Suddenly

The Science Of Transitioning Children

Class 26: Randomization Does Nothing

Addicted To Drug — Statistics

Mark Twain On The Dictatorship Of Health

The Impossibilities Of Quantum Computing

M. Night Shyamalan, Mel Gibson, and John Wayne

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part II

The Two-Envelope Problem Solution: Part I

Four Chords Is All You Need: The Limited Nature of Pop Music

St Petersburg Paradox; Games and Statistical Decisions; RIP David Blackwell

How to Fool Yourself—And Others—With Statistics

US Military Fatality Statistics: Have Suicides Increased?

‘The Most Dangerous Philosopher in the West’

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification