Category: Statistics
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Tim Harford’s 10 statistical commandments
I bought my mom a copy of Tim Harford’s “The Data Detective” and checked it out myself, meaning to re-read it in parallel with her. She didn’t get to reading it and my re-reading has lagged. It’s now overdue so I’ll miss doing a proper review at this moment; I’ll take this as a sign…
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Are all useful models true within +-eps?
I like the phrase “All models are wrong, but some are useful”, attributed to George E. P. Box. It encourages humility and pragmatism, encourages us to watch out for when our models aren’t useful, to not be too attached to them. However, I also wonder if this is true: Are all models that are “useful”…
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Thinking about “Think Stats”
I saw Allen Downey lament on LinkedIn that when he gets a message from Google Alerts about “think stats”, and it’s not about his book “Think Stats”, it’s usually someone saying something negative about statistics. Well, just let me say, I think stats are great, and I’m sure “Think Stats” is great too! I’ve just…