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Think about the your underlying question Aeryn Send a noteboard - 08/04/2014 07:11:24 AM

What is the correct question to ask?

Concerning redheads in the room, I would ask this question:

Given these past historical trends, and a new room with people (operating under the same trends), what is the most likely percentage of redheads that it will contain?

That is the only meaningful application I can make of this example.
Already you see that neither solution is the correct one, because the quantity of redheads isn't governed by the historical concentration of redheads, but by another factor - in this case, a constant.

Have you heard of this saying, "If you torture the data enough, it will confess to anything?" So take a step back, look at your data, and think about the relationships therein. Formulate your question correctly.

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A math question Nate - 01/04/2014 06:13:11 PM 1257 Views
Word problems suck for us overthinkers Sareitha Sedai - 01/04/2014 07:01:06 PM 920 Views
If this question is from an exam, it is truly vile. Aeryn - 08/04/2014 07:14:48 AM 1223 Views
You are computing two separate things. That is the problem. Tom - 01/04/2014 07:04:49 PM 933 Views
it's a matter of different geometric weighting AgentApple - 02/04/2014 09:51:37 AM 917 Views
... *NM* Sareitha Sedai - 02/04/2014 02:30:34 PM 443 Views
Hmm. Nate - 02/04/2014 09:16:02 PM 959 Views
AgentApple - 03/04/2014 08:26:20 AM 1025 Views
Think about the your underlying question Aeryn - 08/04/2014 07:11:24 AM 1246 Views
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