the-real-numbers:

wouldnt-you-like-deactivated-de:

biggest-gaudiest-patronuses:

It aggravates me to no end when media uses that trope of “oh look this character is a genius bc they can calculate a probability to an absurdly precise percentage!” I resoundingly loathe this, bc that is not! how! math works! There are error bars! There are significant figures! Any genius, nay any competent stats student knows that real life complex probabilities come! in! ranges! You can’t just say “there’s a 92.7% probability we’re all going to die haha” bc that’s! not! how! significant figures WORK! Complex factors mean leaving! room! for standard deviation!

love that for you

My (favorite/least favorite) instance of this is SCORPION on CBS. The author, Walter O'Brien, claims the entire thing is an autobiographical account of his time working as a freelance hacker with a team of geniuses. The math nerd character has various intractable probabilities calculated down to three decimal points. It’s hilarious.