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Reply to: stats question

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Previously on "stats question"

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  • BrilloPad
    replied
    Originally posted by EternalOptimist View Post
    not a stats answer but Heisenberg reckoned that the observer affected the results of the experiment.
    just doing the experiment affects the the results of doing the experiment
    So if I experiment coming home drunk its a different result if Mrs BP is there or not?

    Leave a comment:


  • vetran
    replied
    Originally posted by EternalOptimist View Post
    how can you impregnate them when they are all so busy tossing coins and doing the lottery
    you never seen Jeremy Kyle ?

    Leave a comment:


  • EternalOptimist
    replied
    Originally posted by vetran View Post
    its higher but still infinitesimally small. That is how evolution works, enough people throw themselves off buildings then one of them who has a deformity such as webbed fingers survives and impregnates all the females.
    how can you impregnate them when they are all so busy tossing coins and doing the lottery

    Leave a comment:


  • vetran
    replied
    Originally posted by EternalOptimist View Post
    if you jump off a tall building, the chances you can fly are X
    if you jump with five mates, the chances of one of you flying is higher ?
    its higher but still infinitesimally small. That is how evolution works, enough people throw themselves off buildings then one of them who has a deformity such as webbed fingers survives and impregnates all the females.

    Leave a comment:


  • OwlHoot
    replied
    Originally posted by original PM View Post
    nope that is a definite zero probability

    no one on CUK has 5 real mates
    Unless they're in a dusty old pack of five, past its use by date.

    Leave a comment:


  • original PM
    replied
    Originally posted by vetran View Post
    if you go out on your own on Friday night the chance of you getting laid is X, if you go out with five mates the chance of one of you getting laid is higher?
    nope that is a definite zero probability

    no one on CUK has 5 real mates

    Leave a comment:


  • scooterscot
    replied
    Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post

    Why are unlikely results more probable when carried out at once?
    The more tests per unit time equals more events.

    Statisticians use the Poisson distribution to measure this frequency for a given window of time.

    Leave a comment:


  • EternalOptimist
    replied
    Originally posted by vetran View Post
    if you go out on your own on Friday night the chance of you getting laid is X, if you go out with five mates the chance of one of you getting laid is higher?
    if you jump off a tall building, the chances you can fly are X
    if you jump with five mates, the chances of one of you flying is higher ?

    Leave a comment:


  • vetran
    replied
    if you go out on your own on Friday night the chance of you getting laid is X, if you go out with five mates the chance of one of you getting laid is higher?

    Leave a comment:


  • MicrosoftBob
    replied
    Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post

    Why are unlikely results more probable when carried out at once?

    I wish sas was here.....
    Try it out yourself find out how exactly improbable it is, then feed that figure into a finite improbability generator

    That's assuming you understand the principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea)

    Leave a comment:


  • EternalOptimist
    replied
    not a stats answer but Heisenberg reckoned that the observer affected the results of the experiment.
    just doing the experiment affects the the results of doing the experiment

    Leave a comment:


  • vwdan
    replied
    To keep it in context - if I flip a coin 6 times there is a specific probability that I'll get 6 heads in a row (1/64 in I think). That's the same for you, me and everyone else on the planet assuming other variables are constant and each flip is a genuine 50/50.

    However, if I get 30 people to flip a coin 6 times, the probability that SOMEBODY will get 6 heads in a row is higher than 1/64.

    (I hope that's right anyway)
    Last edited by vwdan; 26 February 2014, 12:44.

    Leave a comment:


  • mudskipper
    replied
    If twenty million people play the lottery, there's a better chance of someone winning the jackpot than if only one person plays. And if only one person plays, the jackpot wouldn't be worth winning and they'd be pretty pissed off.

    Leave a comment:


  • BrilloPad
    started a topic stats question

    stats question

    BBC News - Higgs boson-like particle discovery claimed at LHC

    Particle physics has an accepted definition for a "discovery": a five-sigma level of certainty
    The number of standard deviations, or sigmas, is a measure of how unlikely it is that an experimental result is simply down to chance, in the absence of a real effect
    Similarly, tossing a coin and getting a number of heads in a row may just be chance, rather than a sign of a "loaded" coin
    The "three sigma" level represents about the same likelihood of tossing nine heads in a row
    Five sigma, on the other hand, would correspond to tossing more than 21 in a row
    Unlikely results are more probable when several experiments are carried out at once - equivalent to several people flipping coins at the same time

    Why are unlikely results more probable when carried out at once?

    I wish sas was here.....

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