Dennis Roberts wrote:
>
> At 01:23 AM 9/28/01 +0000, Radford Neal wrote:
>
> radford makes a nice quick summary of the basic differences between
> bayesian and frequentist positions, which is helpful. these distinctions
> are important IF one is seriously studying statistical ideas
>
> personally, i think that trying to make these distinction for introductory
> students however is a waste of time ... these are things for "majors" in
> statistics or "statisticians" to discuss and battle over
There is a difference between making the distinction and pointing
out that there is one.
Marilyn Vos Savant had a relevant item in her "Ask Marilyn column:
of September 8, 2001.
--------------------
Q: Is there any simple way for the average person to grasp the
theory of relativity?
A: In my opinion. no. This is not a reflection on our intelligence
but rather on the extent of our learning. The general theory of
relativity expands the time and space proposals of the special
theory of relativity from the areas of electric and magnetic
phenomena to all physical phenomena, with emphasis on gravity.
Without being highly educated in physics, we can only read
summaries of the theory, accept the points on faith and then
successfully repeat what we've learned to others. But the theory of
relativity is not unique in this regard. All of us are capable of
understanding far more than we do; we just don't have the time to
educate ourselves in every field.
-------------------
Students in intro courses are like that. They yet don't have the
background to appreciate the difference between confidence and
probability, but if we don't at least point out that a difference
exists, they'll *never* learn it.
=================================================================
Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about
the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at
http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/
=================================================================
