Voodoo statistics

Posted by Alan on June 12, 2004 at 14:42:00

In Reply to: Re: The facts contradict your position posted by Miguel on June 12, 2004 at 13:30:19:

Miguel ol buddy,

Please explain to me how you think you can determine the median of any sample if any of the sample member's values are not known?

The fact that the top income earner's income may be in the millions or billions is completely irrelevant. The IRS knows what the values are, and they were made available to the CBO for their report, so your assertion that the right boundary of the curve is unknown is flat-out wrong!

You cannot determine the median (or the mean and mode for that matter) without knowing the values of each member of the sample. If you don't believe me, ask Carol (a.k.a. ANOVAGRRL), who has a good grasp of statistics, or consult a statistics book.

I challenge you to demonstrate how you can determine the mean, median and mode for a sample if not given the value of the highest number in the sample.

This is all moot point, however, because all the income of income-earners is known. You are just attempting to discredit the statistical facts because they debunk your assertions.

By the way, our economy is not pure capitalism.