Apparently
nothing happened today.
A
perfect article for my Statistics students as we study correlation.
Prove Anything With Statistics
Using Spurious Correlations [Weird & Wonderful Web]
Mark
Twain once said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
The point being that statistics can be used to prove anything,
whether they’re made up on the spot or generated by real data.
You
don’t have to take my word for it either, as a website called
Spurious Correlations perfectly demonstrates how statistics can be
bent and shaped to suit a particular bias.
…
Spurious Correlations is
the brainchild of Tyler
Vigen, a criminology student at Harvard Law School. Vigen is
fascinated by empirical research, so he created a simple website
dedicated to comparing variables, and how closely they correlate with
each other.
There
is a new one of these Spurious Correlations posted to the site every
day, with over 24,000 posted to date. As well as those generated
automatically, visitors can discover
their own by selecting two different datasets to compare with one
another.
The money spent on pets in the U.S. correlates
with the number of lawyers in California.
The divorce rate in Maine correlates
with the per capita consumption of margarine in the U.S.
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