In March of 2009, the Department of Mathematics
hosted
the 2008-09 Donald H. Clanton Visiting Mathematician:
Professor Stephen M. Stigler
Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor
Professor and Chair, Department of Statistics
University of Chicago
Dr. Stigler gave two talks on March 26, 2009.
The Five Most Consequential Ideas in the History of Statistics
Patrick Hall, Townes Science Center
March 26, 2009
4:00 PM
Five ideas are identified as the most consequential in the history
of statistics. All had origins that predate the 20th century;
all have
enduring contemporary relevance; all are basic yet sufficiently
subtle that
they can puzzle and perplex some of the best minds even today.
And, no,
Bayes Theorem is not in the list.
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Skill or Luck?
A Statistical Look at Tournament Golf
Watkins Room, University Center
March 26, 2009
7:30 PM
In 1996 Greg Norman suffered an epic collapse in the late rounds
of the Masters Tournament. New definitions of the ideas of skill
and
luck suggest that his collapse was to a degree predictable,
and it has
interesting implications within and beyond golf. Dr. Stigler will
analyze one modern
sport and discuss what statistical theory can tell us about competition
in
other sports, in business, and in science.