statistics, Larry King style
johncwright.livejournal.com…
An Example of Statistics in Action
An anecdote, related to an earlier discussion of divorce statistics.
Once upon a time, I was sitting at a table with eight friends.
There were three sets. Set one had one member: an unmarried male. Set two had six members: three couples married to each other, with no divorces. Set three had one member: a young lady who had been married six times, and divorced four times. (She was currently married, and had been widowed once.)
Eight people and four divorces meant that the divorce rate at that table was FIFTY PERCENT. When one one young lady got up and went to the kitchen for a coke, the divorce rate at the table was ZERO. When she returned, drink in hand, the divorce rate rose to FIFTY PERCENT.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 7:24 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
2 Responses to “statistics, Larry King style”
1. HTRN Says:
May 17th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I remember seeing something similar pointed out before – that yes, 50% of all marriages end in divorce, but the odds of getting divorced are lower, because there’s a fair percentage of “serial monogamists” who have 3, 4, 5 or more weddings and subsequent divorces. HTRN
[Reply]
Rob Reply:
May 17th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Liz Taylor is really screwing the curve.
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