Shakespearean Statistics.

For years, I was at war.  Math, with all the inflexibility of a stubborn child, was the enemy.  I cringed at equations- not because I couldn't use them, but because my mind didn't feel comfortable with the type of rigidity those long strings of numbers and symbols embraced.  Unlike many of my friends who joined my cause on the grounds of, "never having to use any of this in real life anyway," I respected my enemy.  I knew I'd be lost without it, which made my grudge a slightly confused one.  Sitting through a math class felt like driving a car on the opposite side of the road, where humanities (and even science) offered the "normal" kind I was used to.     

Present day: we've reached a stalemate.  I've let down my guard, taken to trying the other side of the road every now and then.  But as I've learned in a biostatistics class this spring, we're still uneasy companions.  My professor carefully works through dilemmas of probability. I watch him, somewhat detached.  There are playing cards and dice and coins for an hour at a time, and I try my best to keep up with them.  Today we discussed the point at which we should begin to question the reliability of a set of trials.  We flip a fair coin ten times- heads, all of them.  We're fine with that.  What about 20/20?  30/30?  When should we grab the coin and demand an explanation?  Funny enough, all I could think of was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  I sat there, trying to use the Poisson distribution formula to calculate the exact improbability of their 92 consecutive heads-beyond the limits of even machine calculation, as it turns out.  I was slightly off-topic for a few minutes, but at least I'd only drifted to the middle of the road.  In some sense, I think it's easier and more enjoyable to navigate in that space.  There are no artificial limits.  I still tense up a bit when the professor throws numbers my way, but I think that feeling will lessen by the end of the semester.  Here's to never quite nearing a crisis of existential, Shakespearean proportions.  Most importantly, here's to the absurdity of befriending the enemy.    




Song of the Day
Radiohead- Climbing Up The Walls
*This is my second favorite of their songs.  'Reckoner' will always hold the top spot
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