The Other Side of the Coin ™

Now you can search public data

Wow.  I used to have to go to a library, search through databases using Boolean operators just to find the location of a pile of microfiche in a basement.  This Google thing has changed the face of research forever.

A student brought this to my attention on Monday — as heard on NPR, the placebo effect is apparently getting stronger.

Well if you think about it, there’s a pill for everything these days, right?  The article suggests that people, when sick, go to the doctor, get a prescription, take a pill and get better (in general).  So maybe people are programmed to think they will get better?

But what does this mean to medical research?  What if a new medication significantly decreases, say, blood pressure — when tested against the placebo, will it fail?

Check out the article.

Let's Make a Deal!

In class we discussed and debated the logic behind the ubiquitous “Monty Hall Problem“:

“Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors:  Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door No. 2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice? (Parade Magazine, Whitaker 1990)

Here is a simulation and an explanation of the answer.

I apologize for any inconvenience; however this new computer uses the newest version of Microsoft Word.  For those of you who cannot view the .docx file, I am also attaching the answer key as a .doc file.  The .doc file may not convert all of the symbols correctly and again, I apologize.

answer key .docx

answer key2 .doc

AP Statistics final exam review answers are here! exam-review-key1

Test Tomorrow!
Check your answers using this key.

Good luck!chapter 6 review answers

Click Unit 1 Review answers for the key to the test review.  Test TOMORROW!!!

so hot right now

Here is an article from the NY Times entitled “For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics” (dated August 5, 1009) highlighting the ever-growing field of statistics.  Organizations such as Google and IBM are looking for good statisticians as the demand for data analysis increases:

“We’re rapidly entering a world where everything can be monitored and measured,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Digital Business. “But the big problem is going to be the ability of humans to use, analyze and make sense of the data.”

Another interesting quote in the article: “I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians,” said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. “And I’m not kidding.”

So you see, you can be nerdy AND cool.

What is the first thing you should do when you encounter a mess of data?

Draw a….what? (It’s in your notes…)

Draw a PICTURE. A distribution. A graph.
LOOK AT IT.

But statistics doesn’t just revolve around histograms, boxplots and scatterplots. Statisticians have (marginally) grown personalities over the years and realize non-statisticians need something tangible to understand data trends. Enter: Nathan Yau of FlowingData.com, a PhD candidate in statistics who makes use of his background in computer science to explore and visualize data.

Since the word “data” sounds so dull…like “widgets” in economics…let’s look at a few examples Yau took from reality:

• Stats about Facebook
• Caffeine v. Calories
• Walmart’s growth
• How People in America Spend their Day (I showed you this one in class)
• Heavy Metal Band Names Flow Chart
• Gas Prices

Evidence of “data-visualization” tools is very commonplace these days and you’ll find that many popular websites mix humor and/or pop-culture into their infographics (The Onion has been doing it for years). 

More:
Time Travel in Popular Film and TV
Movie Monster Comparison Chart

OR Make your own at Graphjam.com