Michael Boerman

February 26, 2022

Two Statisticians Read the News

Frequentist Frank opens the Daily Treatment paper and is dismayed at what he reads. A car accident happened up the road, an armed robbery across town, and a kidnapping in the next city over. "Wow", the thinks to himself. "Because the newspaper has so many crimes I didn't previously know about, they must occur more often that I thought. I'm glad I read about these things so I can be more careful, since I had no idea so much crime was happening around me."

Bayesian Bailey see the same paper and the same articles. "Wow", she thinks to herself. "Because these crimes made the news, they must be a bigger deal or occur less often than I had thought. I'm glad I read about these so I don't need to worry as much, since they wouldn't make the news if they weren't actually news-worthy."