A fair 3-way choice using coin tosses

I’d like to make a fair and random choice among 3 alternatives, but the only randomizing device I have available is a coin to toss.  Worse yet, I suspect the coin may be biased.  What to do?

Heretics! Burn them!

Just as UTSA begins to ramp up its Quantitative Scholarship program to inject mathematical reasoning into every crevice of our curriculum, heretics are beginning to doubt the whole enterprise.  Part of the problem is that most remedial and math literacy programs (and textbooks) are filled with bullshit applications and examples (“the rate at which the fluid level in a martini glass will go down”, etc.) that suggest the authors never worked an honest lick in their lives.

Very few people need calculus, but darn near everyone could benefit from knowing the basics of things like the critical path method — planning a move, a wedding, or a family reunion is a major scheduling problem!  But we don’t let the quants who know how to make money teach the Great Mathematically Unwashed.   Instead we stick ‘em in Developmental Math 001 and let teaching assistants torture ‘em with (pre)calculus.  Then we end up with citizens who get gypped on loans and mortgages, believe in magical thinking about economics, and plan for retirement with lotto tickets.  Nice contribution, State U.

I’m going to be really busy the next few years dishing up useful math and statistics that my students will remember long after their final exams.  And I expect the Math Mafia to give me no small ration of sh*t for doing so.

Update (5 November).  Another sermon to the choir from the Math Mafia.

A short tale about the long tail

Lingustics Log has a nice post about early papers on long tail distributions. Good dissertation material, thanks guys!

Brace yourself for (re)apportionment!

Here’s a concise history of congressional apportionment, with a good stab at explaining the mathematical rules involved.  Tannenbaum’s Excursions in Modern Mathematics devotes a chapter to the topic; I used to teach this in our statistical literacy course.

Tip from The Geek Press

Update (22 July).  A new book on voting systems is reviewed in the New Yorker.

Hey, I’m not (too) crazy!

Looks like I’m not the only one who’s thinking about having students read some of the classics in statistics, see here and here!

Even more classical goodies in the tip from Andrew Gelman.

Just what I need for Quantiative Literacy…

…a new textbook on mathematical sociology.

Tip from the Social Science Statistics Blog.

Wecome to Tone-Deaf U.

One of the public relations gimmicks used to promote UTSA’s Quality Enhancement Program, Quantiative Scholarship, was a contest for promotional videos.

Is it just me, or is drinking the QEP Kool-Aid an unfortunate metaphor?

Tip from UTSA Today.

Drag and drop to make a graph

JMP 8 has an interactive tool for making graphs, called Graph Builder. (Click it, the video is neat.)  Wow, am I ever glad we’ve been promoting JMP 8 here at UTSA!  And check out the JMP Blog.

Tip from Flowing Data.

Teaching introductory statistics, and more

Andrew Gelman has an interesting post discussing Xi-Liao Meng’s recent article in the American Statistician, "Desired and Feared—What Do We Do Now and Over the Next 50 Years?" Xi-Liao addresses the challenge for UTSA’s new Quantitative Scholarship project head on:

statistics, as a discipline, is now both desired and feared.With this new status comes a set of enormous challenges. We no longer simply enjoy the privilege of playing in or cleaning up everyone’s backyard. We are now being invited into everyone’s study or living room, and trusted with the task of being their offspring’s first quantitative nanny. Are we up to such a nerve-wracking task, given the insignificant size of our profession relative to the sheer number of our hosts and their progeny?

Gelman has some useful thoughts, and a link to his Q.S. book, which I had not previously heard of.

Cutting down on the consulting load

Here’ some good advice for statisticians besieged by students who want help.  I’m starting my annotated bibliography, now!.