Saturday, December 11, 2004
Random Topic Rant
Nobody likes numbers. Let's talk about numbers.
Numbers are cool. Unfortunately, math is taught backwards in our school system, because all the fun stuff about math is predicated on an understanding of the mathematical logic system. We don't even stop to think about the question "What is a number" unless we hit upper division math. Those of you who gave up after (or before) calculus don't know what you're missing. Because you're missing it. And hence, don't know. *sigh* I hate that phrase.
But problems arise when people who don't know about numbers try to use them to make points. Concepts like equality and proportion are very specifically defined in the mathematical world, but applying them to reality can be problematic if you don't know what you're talking about. And I'm not just talking about the idiots ("America is suffering a poverty crisis, with half of the population living below the median income level" or "Summer is the season of (blank), as 25% of (blank) occurs in the summer").
How many times have you has a "study" been waved around in your face to try to prove a point? How many times has that waving included a careful description of the procedure used to get the damning/reassuring number? No one does these studies for fun. They do them because they want to prove a point. If you're swallowing them whole, you've got a problem.
Here's an example from last year, when the conclusion "bigotry makes you dumb" was drawn from a study that, if anything, probably suggests "political correctness makes you dumb." The Chron made the mistake of actually telling the reader where the numbers come from, which gives the reader the opportunity to notice that The Chron's conclusion was crap.
You can't handle numbers! You are unfit for them! You sully their honor with your politics! While we're proposing re-education camps and communal property, why not institute a Department of Numbers? DeNum can deal with numbers outside the realm of politics, as its members are kept in isolation without knowledge of the world, and are only fed data which they convert into results.
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