Chance News 89

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Quotations

"To rephrase Winston Churchill: Polls are the worst form of measuring public opinion — except for all of the others."

--Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll,
Letter to the Editor, New York Times, 24 October 2012

Forsooth

Simpson's Paradox on Car Talk

Take Ray out to the ball game...
Car Talk Puzzler, NPR, 22 September 2012

Popeye batted .250 for before the All-Star break, while Bluto batted .300; Popeye batted .375 after the All-Star break, while Bluto batted .400. How did Popeye win his bet that he would have the better average for the season? Statistically minded listeners will quickly recognize this as an instance of Simpson's Paradox. Still, everything sounds like fun when Tom and Ray discuss it! You can read their solution here.

A famous real-life example of Simpson's Paradox with batting averages can be found here.

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