“If you do happen to find yourself partially believing a crazy theory, don’t worry—probably the evidence you encounter will be inconsistent with it, driving down your degree of belief in the craziness until your beliefs come into line with everyone… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“the crazy theory is designed to survive this winnowing process. That’s how conspiracy theories work.” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
My reading practice is one reason I mostly don't read electronically. Different books are in different rooms of my house, and one is in… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“Knowing mathematics is like wearing a pair of X-ray specs that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world.” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“If you decide what color jelly beans to eat based just on the papers that get published, you’re making the same mistake the army… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“Risky strategies can be analyzed numerically; uncertain strategies, Ellsberg suggested, were beyond the bounds of formal mathematical analysis” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“if we now feel comfortable rejecting the conclusions of the Witztum study, what does that say about the reliability of our standard statistical tests?” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
“His most famous paradox goes like this. I decide to walk to the ice cream store. Now certainly I can’t get to the ice cream store until I’ve gone halfway there. And once I’ve gone halfway, I can’t get to the store until I’ve gone half the distance that remains. Having done so, I still have to cover half the… — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share
“scientists and statisticians have already been worrying about them for quite some time.” — Jordan Ellenberg Copy Share Image
