Friday, November 27, 2009

Statistical illiteracy in action (over at Fox News)

From my friends at C&L:
Calling Fox News Quality Control: Pie Charts Are Supposed to Add Up to One Hundred
Let's see... 70% + 60% + 63% = 193%!

Trust me: I've taught undergraduate statistics, including "statistics for liberal arts" (aka statistics for dummies). I've taught graduate statistics. I've taught statistics for engineers in industry.
Most of the general public - the unwashed masses - can understand simple graphs.
... and almost all of 'em will spot the above-noted problem with Fox's pie-chart.

BUT: the folks at Fox News are pretty damn dumb!

p.s. it's also a bit weird that the "60%" wedge is bigger than either of the other two!

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