Statisticians
Jokes
Three statisticians went out hunting, and came across a large deer. The
first statistician fired, but missed, by a meter to the left. The
second statistician fired, but also missed, by a meter to the right.
The third statistician didn't fire, but shouted in triumph, "On the
average we got it!"
Did you hear
about the politician who promised that, if he was elected, he'd make
certain that everybody would get an above average income?
There are three
kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Logic is a
systematic method for getting the wrong conclusion with confidence.
Statistics is a systematic method for getting the wrong conclusion with
95% confidence.
    
A statistics
major was completely hung over the day of his final exam. It was a
True/False test, so he decided to flip a coin for the answers. The
stats professor watched the student the entire two hours as he was
flipping the coin...writing the answer...flipping the coin...writing
the answer. At the end of the two hours, everyone else had left the
final except for the one student. The professor walks up to his desk
and interrupts the student, saying:
"Listen, I have seen that you did not study for this statistics test,
you didn't even open the exam. If you are just flipping a coin for your
answer, what is taking you so long?"
The student
replies bitterly, as he is still flipping the coin: "Shhh! I am
checking my answers!"
There was this
statistics student who, when driving his car, would always accelerate
hard before coming to any junction, whizz straight over it , then slow
down again once he'd got over it. One day, he took a passenger, who was
understandably unnerved by his driving style, and asked him why he went
so fast over junctions. The statistics student replied, "Well,
statistically speaking, you are far more likely to have an accident at
a junction, so I just make sure that I spend less time there."
Three
professors (a physicist, a chemist, and a statistician) are called in
to see their dean. Just as they arrive the dean is called out of his
office, leaving the three professors there. The professors see with
alarm that there is a fire in the wastebasket.
The physicist
says, "I know what to do! We must cool down the materials until their
temperature is lower than the ignition temperature and then the fire
will go out."
The chemist
says, "No! No! I know what to do! We must cut off the supply of oxygen
so that the fire will go out due to lack of one of the reactants."
While the
physicist and chemist debate what course to take, they both are alarmed
to see the statistician running around the room starting other fires.
They both scream, "What are you doing?"
To which the
statistician replies, "Trying to get an adequate sample size."
I asked a
statistician for her phone number.. and she gave me an estimate.
In God we
trust. All others must bring data.
Statistics are
like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is
vital.
79.48% of all
statistics are made up on the spot.
"Give
us a copper Guv," said the beggar to the Treasury statistician when he
waylaid him in Parliament square. "I haven't eaten for three days."
"Ah," said the statistician, "And how does that compare with the same
period last year?"
If there is a
50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it
will.
Three percent
exceeds 2 percent by 50 percent, not by 1 percent.
"Why
are you moving? You have arrived to this lovely neighborhood just a few
weeks ago."
"Yes, but I read in the local paper a bit of statistics that said,
'most auto accidents happen within eight miles of your home' ."
A
statistician's wife had twins. He was delighted. He rang the minister
who was also delighted.
"Bring them to church on Sunday and we'll baptize them," said the
minister.
"No," replied the statistician. "Baptize one. We'll keep the other as a
control."
STATS: The
Magazine For Students of Statistics, Winter 1996, Number 15
Patient: "Will
I survive this risky operation?"
Surgeon: "Yes, I'm absolutely sure that you will survive the
operation."
Patient: "How can you be so sure?"
Surgeon: "9 out of 10 patients die in this operation, and yesterday
died my ninth patient."
Top
ten reasons to be a statistician
- Estimating
parameters is easier than dealing with real life.
-
Statisticians are significant
- I always
wanted to learn the entire Greek alphabet.
- The
probability a statistician major will get a job is > .9999.
- If I flunk
out I can always transfer to Engineering.
- We do it
with confidence, frequency, and variability.
- You never
have to be right - only close.
- We're normal
and everyone else is skewed.
- The
regression line looks better than the unemployment line.
- No one knows
what we do so we are always right.
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