Statistics Archives

Project Estimation Techniques in Software Engineering

What are the different project estimation techniques in software engineering? What are some things you should take into account when estimating the completion deadline of a software development project? When you’re programming something for someone, they always want to know when it will be done. Most of the time, you won’t know exactly how long something will take, so you’ll provide an estimate instead of a guarantee. There are many methods you can use to give your managers and clients an estimation, and we’ll cover three of the options.

Analyze Expenses With This Alternative to Budgeting

Do you have an effective system to analyze expenses? Did you know that there is a budget alternative for managing your spending? In Your Money or Your Life, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez show how to use a tabulation system to analyze expenses. It serves as a budget alternative, avoiding two pitfalls of budgets. Ultimately, it provides a more holistic view of your spending. Read more to understand this effective way to analyze expenses.

The Millionaire Next Door Formula for Net Worth

What is The Millionaire Next Door formula? What net worth is considered wealthy? The Millionaire Next Door formula multiplies your age times your pretax annual income divided by 10 to get your expected net worth—this excludes inheritances. You are wealthy if your net worth is twice as large as your expected net worth. Discover more on how to calculate your net worth using The Millionaire Next Door formula.

What Is Convexity? The Antifragile Explanation

What is convexity? How does convexity relate to antifragility? In Antifragile, Taleb explains that antifragile systems thrive off randomness and the unexpected. Part of this is due to convexity—but what is convexity exactly? In this case, it’s when an effect of an event increases alongside the intensity of the event. Read more to find out what convexity is and how it relates to antifragility.

Misleading Statistics: Examples of Techniques Used

What are the top five techniques used by liars to mislead the public and make statistics look better in their favor? How are these techniques used in practice? There are many techniques that anybody with an agenda can use to manipulate statistics in their favor. In How to Lie With Statistics, Darrell Huff explains how liars can fudge the numbers and he gives examples of misleading statistics so you can learn how to avoid being manipulated. Keep reading for misleading statistics examples and techniques that liars use.

Manipulating Statistics: The Top 8 Techniques

How do liars manipulate statistics to make them more favorable? How can hard numbers possibly be skewed? Manipulating statistics isn’t as difficult as one may think. Although statistics are hard numbers and lying about them isn’t legal, that doesn’t mean they can’t be skewed or framed in a way to make the presenter look better. Keep reading for the top eight ways that statistics are manipulated.

How to Get Accurate Statistics: Good Sampling

How can you get accurate statics if you can’t possibly count every entity of a population? What criteria make a good sample? It is true that the only way to get a 100% accurate sample is to count every single entity, but that’s just impossible. That’s why statisticians use samples to represent a population. There are certain criteria that must be met to ensure that your sample is as accurate as possible. Keep reading to learn more about how good sampling leads to accurate statistics.

Manipulated Graphs: Don’t Be Fooled by Their Tricks

How can people manipulate graphs to change how you perceive them? What are the six most common forms of image manipulation? It is possible for someone with an agenda to manipulate an image (whether that be a graph, a map, or a photo) to control the message you take away from them. You’d be surprised how often this happens in business and advertising. Keep reading to learn how manipulated graphs can support an agenda.

Deceptive Advertising Often Manipulates Statistics

How do companies get away with misleading customers into buying their products? How can statistics be manipulated for deceptive advertising? If a company can’t find a statistic that makes them look good, then they resort to plan B: deceptive marketing. The top two methods for this are to either focus on semi-related figures or to attribute correlation to causation. Learn more about these deceptive advertising techniques below.

Statistical Evaluation: How to Assess Legitimacy

What are the five questions you should ask yourself when looking at statistics? How can you tell when a statistic is being manipulated? It is important to perform a statistical evaluation before you trust any statistic you’re given. Many statistics are manipulated to fulfill an agenda but even manipulated statistics can provide you with valuable information. Continue on to learn how to perform a statistical evaluation.