![]() ![]() Or we might have several variables that are difficult to measure precisely on their own, but with a combination that’s noticeable. Or it might mean that there’s very little noise, that a change in the independent variable produces a reliable change in the dependent one. It might mean that a small change in the independent variable produces a big change in the dependent one. Can we find what things have the strongest effects? The weakest effects? There are several ways we might mean “strongest” effect, too. The goal is obvious: we know there are many things that influence anything of interest. It’s about measuring how one variable changes depending on two or more other variables. “Multivariate analysis” is a term of art from statistics. Teresa Burritt’s Dadaist strip Frog Applause uses knowledge of mathematics as an emblem of intelligence. Some of the many times I’ve talked about The Argyle Sweater appear at this link. Scott Hilburn’s The Argyle Sweater for the 5th of December, 2018. And yes, what Scrooge does besides gather money and misery is irrelevant to the setting of the story. Well, the Scrooge and Marley sign stands “above the warehouse door”, but we only ever go in to the counting-house. But in the original text he doesn’t make any stated loans, and the only warehouse anyone enters is Fezziwig’s. The logic of making loans implies attention be paid to compounding interest, risks, and expectation values, as well as projecting cash-flow a fair bit into the future. These are all trades that mathematicians would like to think benefit from knowing advanced mathematics. The movies are glad to position him as having a warehouse, and importing and exporting things, and making and collecting on loans and whatnot. This lead me to see that it’s a bit vague what, precisely, Scrooge, or Scrooge-and-Marley, did. ![]() The strip did make me wonder if Ebeneezer Scrooge, in-universe, might have taken calculus. It would be the same joke with any subject, certainly. Scott Hilburn’s The Argyle Sweater is a seasonal pun that couldn’t wait for a day closer to Christmas. Essays inspired by On The Fastrack appear at this link. If the context seems fine, we trust the numbers as showing something truth.īill Holbrook’s On The Fastrack for the 5th of December, 2018. If the context seems inappropriate to the listener, she thinks the presenter is massaging the numbers. That context is always something of human judgement. To be useful they must connect to something we want to know. But while numbers are interesting, they’re also useful. in this case it’s “massaging the numbers”, which might seem not strictly mathematics. That’s the depicting as literal some common metaphor. Always fun when that happens.īill Holbrook’s On The Fastrack uses one of Holbrook’s common motifs. And then I noticed there were a bunch of comic strips with some kind of mathematical theme on the same day. ![]()
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