Category Archives: Statistics

Test Your Intuition (46): What is the Reason for Maine’s Huge Influence?

Posted on October 26, 2020 by Gil Kalai

Very quick updates: Corona: Israel is struggling with the pandemic with some successes,  some failures, and much debate. Peace: We have peace agreements now with several Arab countries, most recently with Sudan. This is quite stunning. Internal politics: As divided … Continue reading →

Posted in Games, Probability, Statistics, Test your intuition | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Cheerful Test Your Intuition (#45): Survey About Sisters and Brothers

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Gil Kalai

You survey many many school children and ask each one: Do you have more brothers than sisters? or more sisters than brothers? or the same number? Then you separate the boys’s answers from the girls’s answers Which of the following … Continue reading →

Posted in Combinatorics, Probability, Riddles, Statistics, Test your intuition | Tagged | 7 Comments

Quantum Matters

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Gil Kalai

A comparison between the Google estimator U for the fidelity and two improved estimators that we studied  MLE (maximum likelihood estimator) and V (a variant of U). (More figures at the end of the post.) Here are some links on … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum, Statistics | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The story of Poincaré and his friend the baker

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Gil Kalai

Update: After the embargo update (Oct 25): Now that I have some answers from the people involved let me make a quick update: 1) I still find the paper unconvincing, specifically, the few verifiable experiments (namely experiments that can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Combinatorics, Computer Science and Optimization, Probability, Quantum, Statistics | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

Test Your Intuition (15): Which Experiment is More Convincing

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Gil Kalai

Consider the following  two scenarios (1) An experiment tests the effect of a new medicine on people which have a certain illness. The conclusion of the experiment is that for 5% of the people tested the medication led to improvement while for … Continue reading →

Posted in Statistics, Test your intuition | 21 Comments

Answer to Test Your Intuition (9)

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Gil Kalai

Two experimental results of 10/100 and 15/100 are not equivalent to one experiment with outcomes 3/200. (Here is a link to the original post.) One way to see it is to think about 100 experiments. The outcomes under the null … Continue reading →

Posted in Probability, Statistics, Test your intuition | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Test Your Intuition (9)

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Gil Kalai

Click on the picture if you wish to read about the “Mars effect”   A) You want to test the theory that people who were born close to noon on July 7 are unusually tall. You choose randomly 100 Norwegian men over 25 years old and discover … Continue reading →

Posted in Statistics | 5 Comments