Chance News 62
Quotations
"It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information."
--Oscar Wilde
Quoted in the Economist article on data cited below.
"Statisticians are engaged in an exhausting but exhilarating struggle with the biggest challenge that philosophy makes to science: how do we translate information into knowledge?
"...If you think that statistics has nothing to say about what you do or how you could do it better, then you are either wrong or in need of a more interesting job."
--Stephen Senn, Dicing With Death
Suggested by Paul Alper
Forsooth
Too much data?
All too much: Monstrous amounts of data
The Economist, 25 February 2010
A special report on managing data. To be continued...
Media highlights
The College Mathematics Journal has a column called Media Highlights. Norton Starr is one of the editors and his contributions are usually of interest to Chance News readers. In the March issue Noton has two such items.
For Decades, Puzzling People With Mathematics
The New York Times
Stevin D Levitt
March 11, 2010
Norton writes.
This article gives an inspiring portrait of Martin Gardner,
the premier exponent of recreational mathematics for over 50 years. It invites readers to see mathematics vastly richer and more interesting t han they may recall from their classrooms exercise. Norton says more
about Martin ending with a quote from Rohnald Graham:
Martin has turned thousands of children into mathematicians,
and thousand of mathematicians into children.
Do We Need a 37-Cent Coin?
New York Times John Tierney
October 19,2009
Submitted by Laurie Snell