Many elementary teachers don’t understand math, and it makes them anxious

Re:Many elementary teachers don’t understand math, and it ma... by chrisseaton on Saturday November 30, 2019 @08:40AM (#21669907)

I can't understand this. Surely either samples are independent, or they are not?

And they are not in a computer program. The state of, to just give one example, the processor cache depends on what happened in the previous run.

We have all this rigour in how statistical techniques are applied, and we make black or white decisions based on the numbers that come out of them, but at their very foundation we're saying 'whatever I'll just pretend this rule applies it's probably fine'. How can we build on that flawed foundation? I don't get it!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Many elementary teachers don’t understand math, and it ma... by adwn on Saturday November 30, 2019 @09:34AM (#21670106)

Statistical techniques are a model of reality: Reality is not rigorous, but when our models are rigorous, imprecision enters the computation at one place only. If our models aren't rigorous, imprecision occurs at more places, blurring the answer even more.

"All models are wrong, but some models are useful." Just remember that there's some imprecision in the answer a model gives you, and keep that fact in mind when applying that answer to make real-world decisions.

[ Parent | on HN ]