Many years ago, I was flipping through stations on the radio and came across a talk show. I don’t remember the topic of discussion, but something the host said stuck with me.
“Scientists,” the host blustered (and I paraphrase), “are 95-percent confident of these results! Wow!”
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The sound you’re now hearing is that of mathematicians tearing out their hair.
Sure, there’s the old saw about lies and statistics. But would it hurt pundits to know a little bit about statistics before they misuse them?
No two real measurements are exactly the same, whether they are from a telephone poll of political opinions or a set of apparent magnitudes of variable stars. This begs the question: How does one tell which measurement is correct?
It’s pretty rare—I won’t say impossible—to know the “correct” answer ahead of time. What scientists and mathematicians do instead is to take many measurements (not just two), find an average result, and estimate the precision of the result.
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Comments
While we're on the subject of "precision" ---
Look up the true definition of "begs the question."
I think you'll find it wasn't precisely what you meant. You meant "raises the question," I think.
Precision
I think it is a petty to citicize the article on such a miniscule point. Is it worth even mentioning it ? This sounds like trying to rubbish an argument by pointing out something irrelevant. And I'm not even convinced you're right in your criticism. Comments like this make people reluctant to contribute to sites, if people are more prepared to criticize the grammar and not even bother commenting on the content. Do I have to apologize in advance if my grammar is incorrect in this comment ?
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