American Gun Ownership Highest In 18 Years

[Tonitrus]

Why the drop in early 90s?

V

Probably because these statistics are total shit, and aren't scrubbed for bad or inconsistent data?

Polling data really isn't statistics.

What is it then?

I suck at math, but it seems to fit more in the realm of "Probability" to me.

[Admiral Yi]

I suck at math, but it seems to fit more in the realm of "Probability" to me.

That's what statistics is.  You sample a population (for example conduct a survey), then you make inferences about the population based on the sample response.

[dps]

I suck at math, but it seems to fit more in the realm of "Probability" to me.

That's what statistics is.  You sample a population (for example conduct a survey), then you make inferences about the population based on the sample response.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to say that they aren't "hard" stats.  If you have motor vehicle registration from all 50 states and DC, then you can add it all up and you can say with confidence how many motor vehicles are registered in the U.S.  If you scientifically poll a thousand US residents and ask them how many registed motor vehicle they own, you can infer how many registered motor vehicles are owned by individuals in the U.S., but it's an inference, not a certain number.

[DGuller]

I suck at math, but it seems to fit more in the realm of "Probability" to me.

That's what statistics is.  You sample a population (for example conduct a survey), then you make inferences about the population based on the sample response.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to say that they aren't "hard" stats.  If you have motor vehicle registration from all 50 states and DC, then you can add it all up and you can say with confidence how many motor vehicles are registered in the U.S.  If you scientifically poll a thousand US residents and ask them how many registed motor vehicle they own, you can infer how many registered motor vehicles are owned by individuals in the U.S., but it's an inference, not a certain number.

Statistics is all about making inferences.  Taking a census is not an exercise in statistics, it's an exercise in counting.  The definition of a statistic is an estimator, which by definition implies lack of total information.  Of course, in common use, we do sometimes refer to tabulated numbers as statistics, but that's not a technically correct use of the word.

[fhdz]

Statistics is all about making inferences.  Taking a census is not an exercise in statistics, it's an exercise in counting.  The definition of a statistic is an estimator, which by definition implies lack of total information.

Precisely this.

[Admiral Yi]

It's two different uses of the same word.  When you ask what Tebow's stats were last weekend you're not asking what about the sample mean and the 9%% confidence interval, you're asking how many passes he completed and how many rushing yards he had.

[The Brain]

My Charisma is 18.

[fhdz]

My Charisma is 18.

Only in the game, alas.

[Siege]

My Charisma is 18.

Charisma Carpenter is definitively older than 18!!!

[MadImmortalMan]

My Charisma is 18.

Charisma Carpenter is definitively older than 18!!!

Didn't think you liked then that busty.

[Razgovory]

Is this another one of Siege's Disney kids?

[Siege]

My Charisma is 18.

Charisma Carpenter is definitively older than 18!!!

Didn't think you liked then that busty.

I definitively don't.

[Caliga]

I, on the other hand, would drill Charisma Carpenter like an Arab looking for oil.

[dps]

My Charisma is 18.

Charisma Carpenter is definitively older than 18!!!

What makes you think that she's The Brain's?

[crazy canuck]

I, on the other hand, would drill Charisma Carpenter like an Arab looking for oil.

You would use a mechanical device or ask someone else to do it while you watched?