Polimath

I came across the book Panicology, where “Two Statisticians Explain What’s Worth Worrying About (and What’s Not) in the 21st Century”.  The back cover chastens the reader:

Terrorism?

More Americans have been killed by lightning or by peanut allergies than by terrorist attacks.

I’ve read this comparison in different forms many times; it is true, but misleading.

Continue reading ‘Terrorism is not Lightning or Peanut Butter’ »

As a mathematician-turned-social-scientist, I have first-hand experience with the traps a physical scientist can fall into when trying to explain how people act and interact. This is the first of many posts in which I will describe my favorite error, which I have come to call “The Engineer’s Fallacy”.  Rather than define it straight away, I will start with a recent example making it’s way around the mediascape.

Continue reading ‘The Engineer’s Fallacy’ »