square wrote:

In addition to television, his contribution to statistics must be acknowledged.

I think adjusting to variable change is something that is beyond the abilities of most of our fellow Americans.

GooberMcNutly wrote:

Baywolfe wrote:

square wrote:

In addition to television, his contribution to statistics must be acknowledged.

I think adjusting to variable change is something that is beyond the abilities of most of our fellow Americans.

My stochastics professor used to claim that if you *got* the Monty Hall problem, you could continue in stat, but if you failed to truly grok it, you might as well change majors.

It was used to blow the proles minds in Parade Magazine, that cheap throway in the funnies,
by no other than the smartest person in the world.

Yes, we still get Parade, and Marilyn is still in there, although it seems to be shrinking its way to the size of a postage stamp.  The inability for people to understand the difference between statistics, odds, and probability is the reason why casinos make money, and why junk bonds destroyed the housing market about ten years ago.