"There is no smallest among the small and no largest among the large; but always something still smaller and something still larger." -- (Anaxagoras, ca. 450 B.C.)

Math History Tidbit:

Mary Somerville (1780-1872): Scottish-born Somerville lived during a time when women were not supposed to be educated in mathematics and science. Despite opposition from her own parents, she created her own personal library with books on algebra, geometry, logarithms, calculus, physics, astronomy, and probability theory. She eventually published many outstanding papers and articles...and went on to publish four books, including The Mechanism of the Heavens , which resolved many mathematical problems relating to astronomy. In 1835, Somerville and Caroline Herschel were named as the first honorary female members of the Royal Astronomical Society.

 

Herkimer's Corner

Why did Herkimer go to the zoo to try to improve his reading comprehension?

Answer: He was told he should practice reading between the lions.

Things Herky would like to know:

Are Santa's elves just a bunch of subordinate Clauses?

If stupidity gets you into a mess, why can't it get you out?

ASSIGNMENT #37

Reading: Section 6.2 and 6.3, pages 331-355

Exercises: None (but read carefully and get familiar with the terms and phrases introduced.)

Items for reflection:

You are in Section 6.2 and 6.3.

Note: On page 341, Rule #5 has a typo. The lastline should read P(A and B) = P(A)P(B).

The probability rules are pretty much commonsense. There are, however, some key words and phrases that areextremely important to understand.

Disjoint events

Use of the word AND

Use of the word OR

independent events

conditional probability

 

LINK TO SECTIONSUMMARIES

LINK TO STATISTICS HOMEPAGE

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Text:
The Practice of Statistics, by Yates, Moore, McCabe. New York,W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999. (ISBN 0-7167-3370-6)

Supplemental books:
The Cartoon Guide to Statistics, by Gonick and Smith. NewYork, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. (ISBN 0-06-273102-5)
How to Lie with Statistics, by Darrell Huff. New York, W.W.Norton & Company, 1982 (ISBN 0-393-09426-X)

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