In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Robert Frick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Jerry Dallal wrote:
>> Robert Frick wrote:
>> > I know it is hard to make statistics fun, but FOLLOWING
>> RULES IS NEVER
>> > FUN. Not in math, not in games, nowhere.
>> In math and in games, following rules isn't just fun,
>> IT'S THE LAW. In fact, you can't have fun unless
>> you follow them. :-)
>Well, technically, most real rules tell you what not to do -- they
>usually don't tell you what to do, because that isn't fun.
This is well put. The rules describe what is allowed, but
not which of the allowed possibilities to perform.
In bridge,
>the language of the bidding is very prescribed, but you almost always
>have choices as to what you can bid. On the other hand, the
>prescription to bid 1NT with a balanced hand and 15-17 points tells you
>what to do, but is not a real rule of the game. Instead, it is a rule
>the experts constructed so that the game wouldn't be fun. Ha ha, they
>really constructed the rule so that people could play better bridge.
>Destroying the game is an unintended byproduct.
> In math, aren't students often taught algorithms for solving problems?
>Again, no fun.
Yes, this is a mistake. They are given many rules in
linear algebra, which are all special cases of what is
known in logic as the rule of equality. But these rules
only state what processes are allowed. The introduction
of formal algorithms added nothing but glitz to algebra.
The ones often given as rules for solving, such as Cramer's
rule, or inversion of a matrix by determinants, are
essentially useless in most situations. These are rules,
of the type given for special situations in statistics. Of
course, most real problems in statistics are not of this
special type.
>Bob F.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
