Tag Archives: jargon

Time Is On My Side

If you do much data analysis it won’t be long before you work with data measured over a range of times. When you do see time-series data, you’ll find that time scales and time units have some very quirky properties. … Continue reading

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The Zen of Modeling

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word model? The plastic model airplanes you used to build? A fashion model? The model of the car you drive? The person who is your role model? But what … Continue reading

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There’s Something About Variance

Imagine practicing hitting a target using darts, bow and arrow, pistol, cannon, missile launcher, or whatever. You aim for the center of the target. If your shots land where you aimed, you are considered to be accurate. If all your … Continue reading

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30 Samples. Standard, Suggestion, or Superstition?

If you’ve ever taken any applied statistics courses in college, you may have been exposed to the mystique of 30 samples. Too many times I’ve heard statistician do-it-yourselfers tell me that “you need 30 samples for statistical significance.” Maybe that’s … Continue reading

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It’s All Greek

When Humpty Dumpty uses a word, it means just what he chooses it to mean, neither more nor less. To people not conversant in a technical specialty, it seems that all the experts are Humpty Dumptys. Statistics is no exception. … Continue reading

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