In another thread, someone posted this, which is in error:
quote:
The odds of winning the lotto can be a million to one, but if I win it on my first try, then those weren't my odds were they?
I replied:
Er, yes, those are precisely your odds.
I then went on to pose questions which, when answered correctly, would show the error in the first statement:
What are your odds of getting "heads" in a coin toss the first time you do it?
What about the second time? The 10th time? The millionth time?
I have a friend who's got a saying that goes, "The Lottery is just a tax on people who don't understand statistics."
I'd like to make it clear that I am very far away from anything close to being good at math. It has always been a struggle for me.
(but even I know that answer to the question above)
What I want to discuss is what people think the dangers are to society and individuals in not understanding basic statistics, or even basic math.