What, if anything, is a programming paradigm?
Everyone who writes about programming languages seeks to impose order on the chaos of extant languages. A common strategy is to borrow Thomas Kuhn’s concept of a scientific paradigm, itself a not...
View ArticleMeasure and Integration Theory: Easier than it Appears
Measure and integration theory is an indispensable tool in mathematical analysis, probability theory, mathematical statistics and in many applications such as mathematical finance and actuarial...
View ArticleTo use, or not to use, ANOVA?
What do you do when faced with analyzing student ratings from 1 to 5 for 3 instructors in 3 classes? Aside from questioning the validity of students assessing instructor capability other than for the...
View ArticleComputational phylogenetics for algorithms designers
Phylogenetic trees are used in many biological analyses, including protein structure and function prediction, microbiome analysis, and the inference of human migrations. Over the last 50 years,...
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Making mathematical methods less intimidating
My research career has taken a somewhat non-linear path, starting in theoretical cosmology and ending up in marine sciences. Each transition has required me to learn new things, and so many years ago I...
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On COVID-19 Surveillance
As cities, counties and states begin to relax social distancing guidelines, it is important for local and state public health organizations to conduct rigorous disease surveillance looking for...
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What do the data say?
In modern times we experience regular public exchanges of opinion, whether about COVID-19 policies, humanity’s influence on climate, or whether or not the local jail needs replacing. When arguing in...
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What have Mathematics and Statistics ever done for you?
By Graham Robertson Senior Marketing Executive, Cambridge University Press How much do you know about the influence of mathematics and statistics? April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month,...
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Medicine and statistics- not Montagues and Capulets
In his 1597 play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, William Shakespeare narrates the tragic story of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. The two young persons are in love, but their families are engaged in a blood...
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The mean side of the force : How regression to the mean can fool us
Regression to the mean Regression to the mean is a powerful and common source of bias in interpreting data. Once understood, its potential to mislead is obvious. Yet many scientists are regularly...
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