Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Of percentiles and outliers

The recent controversy over Harvard President Larry Summer's comments about possible sex-based scientific ability revealed an astonishing ignorance of basic statistics (bell curves, variability and all that) among many of the indignant and aroused. I heard one of the indignant proclaim that Marie Curie refuted Summer's tentative thesis once and for all.

It is therefore gratifying that Number 2 Pencil is engaged in a terrific project: elucidating a statistics term of the day in -- what else? -- a lucid manner.

I look forward to many more such days.

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