#math errors

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, Matt Parker. New York: Riverhead Books, 2020 Summary: An exploration of all the ways we use (and misuse) math in the real world, and the ways our calculations can go badly wrong. Were you among those who wondered how on earth you would ever use that math you learned in high school? The truth is that even if you do not, there are others using…

I used to hang out in a science fiction forum on Facebook. One day someone pointed out that we didn’t have that many female members. So, some of the dudes were like “women are just not inclined to do science. It’s basic biology” A big argument started and at one point this dude draws the above graph. When I criticized it he thought it was because I didn't understand how statistical distributions work.   

Not only is the graph just something he drew, the axis also make no sense.  The thing is, this happens to me all of the time.  Often, during arguments people will try to make a statement that sounds… mathematical or science-y to bolster their point. Graphs, technical terms, journal citations, and and statistics are applied like decorations to a bad argument to create a veneer objectivity with the hope of intimidating the skeptical. Notice how he instructs me to “start visualizing statistical distributions.”  (I teach Calculus and Linear Algebra, and most in this group knew this.) Another example from a different guy on a different topic. (Racism)

This one was arguing with me about racism. (He thought that black people mostly faced racism because they complain about it too much) He linked to some stats that he claimed backed his observations.

It turned out he didn’t know what a confidence interval was and misread a series of stats that varied between 15-57% as *95%* because of this error. *sigh* great time.

In a story in today’s Globe and Mail dealing with criminal charges against a former Citizenship Court Judge, the reporter states that 15 is nearly triple 4. Silly me, I would have thought 3.75 times would have merited “nearly quadruple,” and perhaps an…

So, I'm not sure where in my mathiness I decided to do 5 times the rows and 4 times the stitches, but it must have been before I thought to do triple the yarn.

I just finished the equivalent of 4 of 21 rows on the hoof.  It felt... big.

I measured it out, checked some proportions, and discovered if I continued on this path my horse would be 25 hands tall.  Note that ponies top out at 14.2 hands tall, and the interwebs tell me the average quarter horse is actually 15-16 hands tall.

Clydsdales are around 18 hands tall.

Um.  This horse is way beyond horse size.

So while I probably have the right proportions for an AT-AT, should I ever choose to make it, this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too big for a pony.

If I size it down to 3 times the rows and twice the stitches, we come out at a nice 14-15 hands tall.  So.  I shall be ripping out all this and starting again:

It does make a rather spiffy hat.