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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 1030 Views
Word problems suck for us overthinkers Sareitha Sedai - 01/04/2014 07:01:06 PM 701 Views
If this question is from an exam, it is truly vile. Aeryn - 08/04/2014 07:14:48 AM 1006 Views
You are computing two separate things. That is the problem. Tom - 01/04/2014 07:04:49 PM 700 Views
it's a matter of different geometric weighting AgentApple - 02/04/2014 09:51:37 AM 692 Views
... *NM* Sareitha Sedai - 02/04/2014 02:30:34 PM 344 Views
Hmm. Nate - 02/04/2014 09:16:02 PM 722 Views
AgentApple - 03/04/2014 08:26:20 AM 780 Views
Think about the your underlying question Aeryn - 08/04/2014 07:11:24 AM 1036 Views
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