• nosuchanon@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Add it to the list.

    1. Common Sense
    2. Literacy
    3. comprehension
    4. critical thinking
    5. Basic math
    6. Statistics
    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Asking people how they feel could render so many variances so I’d go with sure, no, and maybe. Ask someone ignorant to any teachings of physics, a high school student who finished highschool physics and an aerospace engineering student how much they know about physics… All of them could say they wish they knew more to fully understand what they wish to understand.

      Kind of like that old saying, the more you learn the more you realize you don’t know.

    • makeshift0546@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      Nah, shitty questions as usual. Go around any country and all folks to explain a p value and how is derived.

      Unless it’s your day job that’s just not information the common person retains. A cursory knowledge of what it is and how is used is all that’s needed for most.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        Stats is not just about p values. The math was developed to detect cheating in gambling. Anyone winning at a frequency beyond two standard deviations from the mean is cheating. Good cheaters know not to exceed that.

  • Tiral@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    There’s a reason statistics isn’t required in highschool. Because if broke people knew the odds of the lottery, a lot wouldn’t play. They’re the ones supporting it basically.

    • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      The odds of winning the lottery are the same as getting struck by lightning twice.

      Easier to understand.

      • Erusset@slrpnk.net
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        4 days ago

        Even when I’m a storm chaser who likes to hang out in fields with metal poles? I like my odds!

      • Rooster326@programming.dev
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        4 days ago

        Not sure they’re equivalent.

        Maybe it’s because I live in a tropical hell hole but I’ve had lightning strike the house multiple times. I ain’t never won the lottery though

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      That’s exactly it. Statistics is a far simpler math than functions or calculus, yet it doesn’t get taught until university.

      If people understood statistics, they would understand that all political polling is vastly underpowered.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      The lottery is just the tip of the iceberg.

      But people don’t learn statistics for the same old reasons: indoctrination, privilege/deprivation, ancient/misguided teaching standards, etc.

      Similarly most people don’t ever learn compsci/programming because for example they’re studying calculus from the 1700s that they’ll never use, etc.

      The end goal is a compliant, obedient servant/prisoner, not an educated, critical person.

  • antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 days ago

    The median adult living in the median home, with the median income, doesn’t know what it means to be the median.

  • atro_city@fedia.io
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    5 days ago

    Given how many think a quarter is bigger than a third because the word sounds bigger, let’s say, I’m not surprised.

    • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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      5 days ago

      One’s got a four in it and the other’s got a three, the bigger one is obvious.

  • makeshift0546@lemmy.today
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    5 days ago

    How many of you could fully explain how a p value is calculated (this may be the wrong sub to put this in, but I’ll let my point stand)?

    How much do you understand about statistics and p-values

    I could tell you how it’s used. I’d have to look up how to calculate it these days. I could tell you that’s a shitty way to get to 67% of something using an ambiguous question that a high schooler could pick apart.

    Shitty questions in, shitty conclusions out 🤷‍♂️

    • [object Object]@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      You don’t need to look up how a p value is calculated, the calculation depends entirely on your model and hypothesis assumptions.

      The best way I’ve heard a p value described was “the degree to which the data are embarrassed by the null hypothesis”. It’s the most succinct, correct, and easy to remember description.

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        P value just tells you how likely the difference between two data sets is just random chance. Having said that, there are many ways to p hack to achieve significant values.

        • village604@adultswim.fan
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          4 days ago

          That’s why it annoys me when people complain about what they think is a small sample size.

          Large sample sizes can be used to p hack

        • [object Object]@lemmy.ca
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          5 days ago

          I’m probably being too pedantic, but that’s exactly correct, though it also captures the spirit and practically most common cases.

          Just change “two datasets” to “a statistic”, because hypothesis tests can be pretty general.

          I don’t love P values, they’re not quite an intuitive probability, they bake in a lot of assumptions, they can be deceptively over or under sensitive, and they’re hard to explain. As a tool they’re useful but they always need context and planning.

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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    5 days ago

    depends on what the statistics is for though? its not a general one size fit all. like birth rates, death rates, education rates,etc.