859 posts tagged with statistics.
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How to implement Random Forest regression models in practice?
When using linear regressions to predict data, there are equations like Y = a X + b Y + c that can be easily implemented in Excel or elsewhere. When creating Random Forest models for regression in R or Python, can those models be implemented outside the tools used to create them? [more inside]
Gifts for the Calculating Grad
My kid is graduating at the end of the month, and will be studying statistics at university.
It has been suggested to me that a really high end calculator would be a good graduation gift and useful in their secondary education.
1) is this true? (they did not need one in HS)
2) If so, what would be the Cadillac of handheld calculators for a stats kid?
What is this baseball stat?
I'm looking at a baseball box score on ESPN's site. At the bottom of the pitching section there's a line for "Game Scores" with a number for one (but only one) of the pitchers for each team. I can't even guess what the number is suppose to represent. [more inside]
How to accurately determine if a random method is indeed random?
I wanted to do a project where I measured how random the native RNGs are in various programming languages. How can I objectively measure my results? Also, if you run a random number generate say 100 vs 10,000,000 times should the distribution even out the more tests you run?
What are the go-to statistics reference works?
I'm starting a job soon that will involve lots of work with statistics. I studied it in college 10+ years ago, but my knowledge is a little rusty and I'd love to have a reference work that I can keep on my desk and consult when I need to refresh my memory on one concept or another. My searching has mostly turned up textbooks, which are a bit more study-oriented than I'm looking for. Thank you!
Best online Venn or Euler diagram maker?
I need to make a high-res Venn diagram for a scientific poster. It needs to have 4 categories and i would like the size of the circle to be proportional to the number in each overlapping category. I don't know and probably can't learn R or any other statistical analysis type language- most of the things I can bring up on google require these type of skills. I don't mind paying a little bit if it's truly idiot-proof.
How can I compare the frequency of two words in English?
I want to compare two words to see which is more commonly used. ("Shard" vs. "shart") I don't want to compare searches, because people don't necessarily search on a word they know well. Google Ngram seems to stop at 2012, and only measures uses in books. Is there a tool that compares how common words are across the Internet?
Best type of chart to visualize geographic distribution of servers
I am doing some research on a provider's network geographical distribution. If my data is for 70 countries and 2,000 servers, how could I best visually display this? The relationship I'm trying to show is the potential even or uneven geographic distribution of servers while also taking in to consideration the fact that the USA would have more servers than a country than the size of Ireland or Hungary. This seems like the least complicated way of controlling for size rather than getting into population, etc.
Unpacking the one-star rating
Let's say you're shopping on Amazon and there's a product you're thinking about buying, so you check the reviews. The average is acceptably high, say 4.2 stars, but when you look at the distribution, there are a lot of fives, some fours, not much in the middle, and then a little one-star bump at the end. How do you integrate this information when making decisions? [more inside]
What kind of data analytics skills for national/key retail account mgmt
Would anybody have any idea what kind of statistical analysis skills and methods huge North American retailers would expect from their consumer brand account managers/sales reps?
I’m applying for large account manager roles in my old field of retail account management. In seeing news job openings online I see that as much as sales & retail account management experience they are specifically looking for some kind of data analytics skills. I left this field to get a master’s degree in heavy stats-oriented applied psychology which was recently classified by the gov’t as a STEM field. [more inside]
No mo' Bad Luck? Book on drop in Std Dev lowering cost of uncertainty
Help me remember a book from 10 or 20 years ago that discussed how a general decrease in modern processes' and activities' standard deviation has altered our outlook through lowering costs of uncertainty: in cases where people used to blame bad luck, now we tend not to because of much greater expected precision about time and consistency of results. So, in shipping, you can't say 'Oh the ship sank or it's really late but it's nature, it's not my fault.' Or, apparently, duelling disappeared because of the decrease in randomness.
How can I make my team's forecasting more scientific?
At the end of each year, my team makes a financial forecast for the next year. The forecast is updated quarterly to reflect actual achievements, market conditions, etc. Historically, we've developed a reputation for "sandbagging" by consistently providing forecast results that we significantly exceed. I'd like to try and change that. [more inside]
How many possible paths?
I am trying to calculate the number of unique paths through a grid that loop back to only one starting point.
I think of this as an extension of the old telephone game. If I tell one person, and they tell the next person, what are all the possible paths for the message to travel through the group and return to me? [more inside]
I don't understand why election modeling has any validity
I don't mean this critically, I mean genuinely as a conceptual matter it seems to me incorrect to use statistics to invoke the "odds" and "chances" of specific electoral outcomes. Help me wrap my mind around it? [more inside]
What's this math/statistics word I'm looking for?
I want to say that one analysis is ____ of another. Or that two analyses are _______. Where the blank word means -- "look, they're the same thing in a different form. They're just simple transformations of each other. You can pull out your calculator and turn this one into that one. They spit out different numbers but they mean EXACTLY the same thing" I feel like there's a word for this. [more inside]
Point prevalance of COVID
Right now, in my community, what percentage of people are infectious with COVID?
I'd like to use that number to get an answer to the question: "In a given classroom with N students, what number C is currently infected with COVID and is contagious"
I would like this for my own knowlege (I'm a teacher, and my students no longer have a masking requirement).
I may also use this in a lecture, both to show students how to reason about uncertainty, and also to give uncertain students some data for deciding "mask or don't mask". [more inside]
A Gender-balanced Wikipedia
How many Level 4 Vital Articles would a gender-balanced Wikipedia have? [more inside]
Stats for Experiments Refresher Needed
I'm going to be doing a test for a job on Wednesday. The test will involve doing statistics for randomized controlled trials. I do other kinds of statistics, but I haven't done so much as a problem set like this in 35 years. Please point me to some primers to refresh my memory on how to do them and how to interpret outputs. I assume I want t-tests, means comparisons, ANOVA etc. SPSS, Stata, or R. And maybe excel. Do people use excel? [more inside]
Pounds of car
How many pounds of end-of-life motor vehicles aren't recycled, by year?
What is the name of this kind of statistic?
There's a kind of data I have seen and would like to see more examples of, but I don't know how to search for it because I don't know what it's called, assuming it is called anything. Basically, it is a way of determining the most popular distinctive thing in a given place/population. [more inside]
Source of this statistic about aircraft carbon emissions ?
I was told recently of a statistic which suggested that carbon emissions by passenger aircraft (grams per passenger/km) will fall by 2% every year for the next decade due to advances in technology. This seemed unlikely to me and I'm interested to know where this statistic might have come from. [more inside]
Have R Will Travel
Where to find part time / gig work with basic R skills? [more inside]
Survey Design - should I stop a census with survey response-level
I'm a little farther away from survey design than I used to be, but I'm seeing a massive swing on a survey delivered on a regular cadence (not just at delivery) and I vaguely remember a reason why and it had to do with the way the initial population is identified. [more inside]
Good strategy for finding statistics to support writing?
What are some effective and practical ways to find statistics to use as citations in business and tech articles? [more inside]
Applying technical indicator knowledge outside of investing?
A friend really likes using technical indicators for investing. Things like various moving averages overlaid on candle and bar charts for example. Since the markets are frustrating right now, this friend is looking for other areas where this knowledge may apply, and especially if they can learn about new types of indicators while learning about those new areas. They also mentioned throwing in some of those neat-looking & free math or statistics software packages out there, but are generally unfamiliar with them. [more inside]
Need a specific recommendation for an online statistics class
I'm trying to find an online statistics class but am overwhelmed by google results from "online statistics class." Can you recommend a specific class that counts toward college credit? Assume that community colleges have already been explored as a possibility. [more inside]
Covid Epidemiology Graph Interpretation Question
I am looking at this chart/graph of Covid deaths per 100,000 in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated people in New York City and there is something I don't understand: [more inside]
Regression in Python
What is the best package (or packages) for regression in Python? [more inside]
Statistics on how many people have received each COVID vaccine?
I'd like to know how many people have received the various COVID vaccines (at least the ones available in the US). I have a friend that is vaccine hesitant but it's starting to interfere with their life (can't go to big concerts without a recent test/can't eat inside a restaurant/etc.). I'd like some data to show them how them how many people have taken them and how many have recorded reactions. [more inside]
Regional data on queer or BIPOC stigma and resources
I’m looking for US regional (state/county-level) data that characterizes the degree to which the climate in each region is stigmatizing toward or has identity-specific resources for queer and/or BIPOC people in that region. The data must (1) be immediately publicly available, (2) be available for all or most US regions, (3) reflect the current climate rather than historical climate, and (4) directly reflect BIPOC/queer-specific stigma or resources rather than a related topic (even if it’s highly related, like presidential election results). Ideally, the data should be updated regularly. [more inside]
Apollo 13 Question
I am reminded me of how, in the movie, that NASA's mission control was portrayed as working with the astronauts on the crippled spacecraft to solve its O2 and electricity problem by using nothing beyond exactly what the astronauts had available to them. So my question is, knowing what we know now, were there at the time, any calculated odds that either those astronauts or mission control would or would not be successful getting the spacecraft back to Earth with its occupants alive? [more inside]
Doing research on Administrative Law Judges for the SSA
Where can I find numbers that show the number of depositions, decisions, denials, awards, dismissals, and reversed and or vacated cases of administrative law judges? Looking to find stats comparing those judges in different courts across the country.
Statistics Workbook
I'm working in the life sciences and infrequently have to engage with statistics, like ANOVA, ttests and general data analysis of High Throughput data. But due to the infrequency I always forget a lot of this stuff and have to relearn it. I once had a really great statistics workbook, it was among some 20 books I just grabbed from the statistics shelf from my library to see what works best for me.
It was quite short on the explanatory text, but had some outstanding problems to work on, the kind that makes you really think about the stuff you just learned, and not just mechanically apply the same formula with different numbers. These questions were very well designed and the answers to them were lengthy, so that you really understood the solution. For me this is the best method for truly understanding something.
I want to find such a book again, can you help me out?
Just how big is Moldova?
I've been hearing a lot about Moldovan wines lately, and I was curious about how big Moldova is, so I tried to look it up. Much to my surprise, there appears to be a fair amount of disagreement, with a huge range of different answers depending on where you look. [more inside]
Are there stats on % in US who have had Covid AND vaccine?
If we want to calculate what percentage of the population are immune to Covid at present, to see, for example, where we are in terms of "herd immunity" (or, just because it's interesting), how do we deal with the following issue: [more inside]
Media Monitoring and Analytics: not for brands but for DV research?
(Asking for Ms. Spike)
There are companies that brands can hire that monitor the media for mentions of issues that concern them. Does the same thing exist for research? In need of a service that will report anytime there's a domestic violence homicide in our state. [more inside]
Statistics about differently-lengthed linear rankings
Suppose I have a list of people's personal rankings of fruits, from best to worst. People skip the fruit they are unfamiliar with, so different rankings may be different lengths. What interesting data can I generate from my list? [more inside]
Statistical conundrum
I have a set of anonymous survey data that was sent out via email and social media at two time points. Some of the people who filled it out at time point 1 probably did so again at time point 2, but because the survey was anonymous, I don't know the proportion of overlap. What is the best way to compare time point 1 and time point 2? [more inside]
Finding margin of sampling error in a survey report
I am trying to find the margin of sampling error in a report about a survey. I can't find the relevant verbal phrases anywhere in the report. But is that what is represented by the percentage figures on Page 48 of the report? [more inside]
Support Options to Utilize For Taking a Statistics Course
I have applied to MSW programs. One prerequisite is that I am to complete a Statistics class. I was last in a classroom setting in 1987. The course begins mid-February. What options are available to me to prepare for the class in advance and get face-to-face (post Covid) or on-line support?
The community college does offer tutoring. I would like to to see what other options are available to me.
Bump in Mormon Curiosity?
I'm wondering if there are any statistics on whether or not the "Book of Mormon" musical resulted in any new or renewed interest in Mormonism. I've heard from several people who said they heard that Mormons were gently discouraged from seeing the show. But I can't believe many didn't go to check it out. Reading interviews with Trey Parker, he said many Mormons came up to him and essentially told him he "nailed" it. [more inside]
Online sources for current and historical global coal industry data
I'm working in a small project/presentation where I'd like to create some charts that look at global coal industry stats over time. The minimum time range is from 1950 on, but earlier is also useful. I'd like to look at global production by year, in tons, and by coal type (anthracite, bituminous, lignite, etc.). National stats, and projections into the future, are also useful but not required. Thank you!
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Counting the D's and R's
I've been trying to get numbers on how many people are registered as Democrats and Republicans in the US. I've figured out that there isn't any absolute answer (some states don't register by party at all), but I'd like to pin down the numbers that are available. [more inside]
What kind of graph/chart should I use?
I am writing a demographics paper for a graduate program I'm in, and I am not sure of the best way to graph several different variables. Talk to me like a child. [more inside]
How long would it take to learn Algebra I to Calculus II?
I am a Social Science student and I am finding statistics to be quite valuable and exciting. I am beginning to think that pursuing a Master's in Statistics (or Biostatistics) or Data Science focus woule be an ideal degree, especially if I can somehow combine it with Sociology/Political Science in government or tech companies with a social aspect to it. Yet, I have always been slow with maths and I struggle with it at times - currently working on Algebra I so far. [more inside]
Help me calculate the odds
I need some MeFi experts to help me calculate the odds of something happening. [more inside]
What are the statistics on poverty in Canada?
I am trying to find statistics on poverty levels in Canada, but having difficulty finding the right statistics. [more inside]
If a revolution killed the rich at COVID rates, how much $ would we get?
Brazil is approaching the 100K deaths milestone and it got me thinking: If a revolution killed the rich at the same rate, starting from the top, how much money would be expropriated? I got some data inside, can you help me come up with a spreadsheet formula? [more inside]
Covid-19 testing, statistics, and time
Has anyone proposed a method whereby your "true" odds of having Covid-19 can be determined given the rates of false-negative/false-positive results for a particular test? [more inside]