Re: math question verrrrrry off topic
Hi,
I taught Philosophy for 32 years in a Junior College; heard them all.
I believe you. :) Had a student who came to me in similar
circumstances, except he had the wrong teacher; he thought I was the
Phys Ed teacher.
Bogdan
Katharine Thayer wrote:
While we're way off topic, once when I was teaching statistics, a guy
appeared at my office door just as I was going to the classroom to give
the last lecture of the term, and said, "I haven't come to class all
term; have I missed anything?" True story.
kt
On Jan 18, 2008, at 10:04 PM, Dave S wrote:
Well, I am OT again. If it gets too much, just let me know. I don't
know,
somehow as I grow older, I seem to like things on the lighter side.
Tonight I went to a meeting. I worked with university students a lot.
Tonight I chatted to a young sophomore. He is really a smart guy.
During the
chat, I asked him how early did he have to go to school (because it
is cold
here in MI in the morning). He said it doesn't matter because he skipped
most of his classes (he is an engineering student. Engineering
subjects are
more standardized and "fixed" especially for freshmen/sophomores so
you can
learn them yourself from textbook and homeworks).
Then he said, "for my 1st and 3rd semester I skipped almost all the
classes,
and I got a GPA of 3.9. The 2nd semester I attended almost all of my
classes, and I got a GPA of 3.6; so my conclusion is it is better to
skip
classes."
Talk about making conclusion from statistical data, huh? :-)
Dave
-----Original Message-----
From: Katharine Thayer [mailto:kthayer@pacifier.com]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:49 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Re: math question verrrrrry off topic
:--)
On Jan 18, 2008, at 6:23 PM, Diana Bloomfield wrote:
Hey Katharine,
I don't know-- maybe. I honestly didn't read the other answers. :)
On Jan 18, 2008, at 8:43 PM, Katharine Thayer wrote:
Hmm, I thought that's what we all already have said, isn't it?
That that theoretical probability (1/4x1/4x1/4) would hold only if
assumptions were met, and since assumptions are obviously not met
(for example, judging is not a random lottery of course
but is done
on the basis of criteria, arbitrary or otherwise but certainly not
random). Also, no one has said whether the 600 entries
are 600 works
or 600 people; I was assuming that they are 600 works representing
fewer than 600 people, in other words people could submit
more than
one work, in which case, as I said, the number of works
submitted per
person would also have to be figured into the equation somehow.
Besides, if one person submits ten pieces and another
person submits
one, the ten pieces by the one person couldn't be considered
independent entries in the same way one of those ten could be
considered independent of the one from the other person, and
independence is also an assumption that must be met in order to
consider the probability of acceptance to be the same for all
entries.
Katharine
On Jan 18, 2008, at 4:25 PM, Diana Bloomfield wrote:
Okay, Chris. Here is it-- straight from my resident statistician
here:
If they were the only 3 people from that institution who applied,
AND if judging was completely random, then the
probability of this
is roughly 1 in 64 (key word: roughly). If more than
that applied
from this same institution, and only 3 got in, then the
calculation
will be more complex.
Hope that helps. :)
On Jan 17, 2008, at 12:00 PM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
Where else but this list can I ask these weird questions about
chemistry and math and computers and alt???
OK for you math people (Yves?): If there is a show and 600
entries, and 150 are accepted, there is a 1 in 4 chance of
acceptance. If 3 people from the same institution are accepted
what percent chance is that--is it 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 or a
1.5% chance
or is it a more complex formula?
Forgive the off topic request but it does relate to
photo as 3 of
our program got into a photo show and I want to be able to
mathematically brag about it to the dept. head/dean.
Chris
Christina Z. Anderson
Assistant Professor
Photo Option Coordinator
Montana State University
CZAphotography.com
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Bogdan Karasek
Montréal, Québec bogdan@bogdanphoto.com
Canada www.bogdanphoto.com
"I bear witness"
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