Statistics can prove anything

[bugmeister]

Very O/T but proves that statistics can mean whatever you want them to mean.

http://www0.york.ac.uk/admin/presspr/pressreleases/football.htm

[Podie]

Thought I'd be the first on many to do the... "86.2% of statistics are made up on the spot" routine..

[Beano1197]

...and 67% of people find statistics baffling....

....the other half don't give a flying.....

[angusfaldo]

Yep, most people reading this thread have more than the average number of legs.

enough said.

[Froth]

angusfaldo said: Yep, most people reading this thread have more than the average number of legs.

enough said.

however:

I LIKE STATISTICS!!!!!!!

IT'S PEOPLE WHO MISUSE THEM THAT ARE BAD.

[Izza]

Well look at averages.

Stick your head in a hot oven and your feet in a bucket of ice water and it averages out to a comfortable temp

Stats is fckd in the head

[northernboy]

Statistics are extremely powerful and useful, but so is knowledge of brillouin zones in crystallography.

We wouldn't expect Joe Public to understand why there are missing maxima in the output from NaCl, so why do people expect to understand the importance of statistics that depend upon conditional probabilities?

After GCSEs, A-Levels, Degree, and three years of a doctorate, people will still find arguments over their statistical treatment of data. Scientists go to massive lengths to make sure that what gets published is beyond reproach in this respect, yet we see on the news a bit of cod maths being bandied about, and a conclusion being jumped to without any of the rather important in between steps.

[Tony Hall]

So what is the percentage of people who understand statistics and what is the 85th percentile of PHers
Sorry don't know what I'm talking about.
Going back to work....

[HiRich]

"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital."

Aaron Levenstein Ê