On 8/10/06, Gar Lipow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Clemens quote "...lies, damn lies, and statistics".
>
> "Figures don't lie, but liars do figure."
>
Another Mark Twain* quote: "A half truth is a whole lie". Which can
be done as easily with words as numbers.
Not really. Words can also be used to mislead but numbers give you an aura of scientific rigor. An opinion poll that says an election is a tie probably does not sound as impressive as one that says X is ahead with 51.1% and a 3% margin of error. You can invent jargon ("dead heat") to get the same effect but numbers work so much better. Of course adding more decimal places makes your numbers look even more rigorous.
(I guess there are limits to public credulity because I have not seen a survey that says 51.13% with 3.03% margin of error so far.)
-raghu.
