Chance News 92

Forsooth

“The quants have arrived at the Academy [of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]. …. The goals in making ... predictions extend beyond [Oscar night]. Dr. Rothschild [Microsoft Research economist] is testing whether surveying people online about Oscar patterns—for example, does winning best-adapted screenplay correspond with winning best picture?—is a method that can be translated to forecasting in other areas. If it works, ‘We can apply it to all sorts of other things we don't have data for,’ Dr. Rothschild said."

Carl Bialik in “And the Oscar-Pool Winners Are...the Stats Dudes”
by Carl Bialik, The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2013

Submitted by Margaret Cibes