Trust in Numbers

2020-08-18
Trust in Numbers

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  • Author: Theodore M. Porter
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • ISBN: 0691210543
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 336

A foundational work on historical and social studies of quantification What accounts for the prestige of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is desirable in social investigation as a result of its successes in science. Trust in Numbers questions whether such success in the study of stars, molecules, or cells should be an attractive model for research on human societies, and examines why the natural sciences are highly quantitative in the first place. Theodore Porter argues that a better understanding of the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research brings a fresh perspective to its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Quantitative rigor is not inherent in science but arises from political and social pressures, and objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts. In a new preface, the author sheds light on the current infatuation with quantitative methods, particularly at the intersection of science and bureaucracy.

How to Read Numbers

2022-03-31
How to Read Numbers

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  • Author: Tom Chivers
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  • ISBN: 9781474619974
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 208

Why Nobody Believes the Numbers

2012-06-11
Why Nobody Believes the Numbers

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  • Author: Al Lewis
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN: 1118332067
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 178

Why Nobody Believes the Numbers introduces a unique viewpoint to population health outcomes measurement: Results/ROIs should be presented as they are, not as we wish they would be. This viewpoint contrasts sharply with vendor/promoter/consultant claims along two very important dimensions: (1) Why Nobody Believes presents outcomes/ROIs achievable right here on this very planet... (2) ...calculated using actual data rather than controlled substances. Indeed, nowhere in healthcare is it possible to find such sharply contrasting worldviews, methodologies, and grips on reality. Why Nobody Believes the Numbers includes 12 case studies of vendors, carriers, and consultants who were apparently playing hooky the day their teacher covered fifth-grade math, as told by an author whose argument style can be so persuasive that he was once able to convince a resort to sell him a timeshare. The book's lesson: no need to believe what your vendor tells you -- instead you can estimate your own savings using “ingredients you already have in your kitchen.” Don't be intimidated just because you lack a PhD in biostatistics, or even a Masters, Bachelor's, high-school equivalency diploma or up-to-date inspection sticker. Why Nobody Believes the Numbers explains how to determine if the ROIs are real...and why they usually aren't. You'll learn how to: Figure out whether you are "moving the needle" or just crediting a program with changes that would have happened anyway Judge whether the ROIs your vendors report are plausible or even arithmetically possible Synthesize all these insights into RFPs and contracts that truly hold vendors accountable for results

Your Life in Numbers: Modeling Society Through Data

2021-06-04
Your Life in Numbers: Modeling Society Through Data

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  • Author: Pablo Jensen
  • Publisher: Springer Nature
  • ISBN: 3030651037
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 114

More than 300 years ago, Isaac Newton created a mathematical model of the solar system that predicted the existence of a yet unknown planet: Neptune. Today, driven by the digital revolution, modern scientists are creating complex models of society itself to shed light on topics as far-ranging as epidemic outbreaks and economic growth. But how do these scientists gather and interpret their data? How accurate are their models? Can we trust the numbers? With a rare background in physics, economics and sociology, the author is able to present an insider’s view of the strengths, weaknesses and dangers of transforming our lives into numbers. After reading this book, you’ll understand how different numerical models work and how they are used in practice. The author begins by exploring several simple, easy-to-understand models that form the basis for more complex simulations. What follows is an exploration of the myriad ways that models have come to describe and define our world, from epidemiology and climate change to urban planning and the world chess championship. Highly engaging and nontechnical, this book will appeal to any readers interested in understanding the links between data and society and how our lives are being increasingly captured in numbers.

Theological Hermeneutics and the Book of Numbers as Christian Scripture

2018-06-25
Theological Hermeneutics and the Book of Numbers as Christian Scripture

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  • Author: Richard S. Briggs
  • Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
  • ISBN: 0268103763
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 289

How should Christian readers of scripture hold appropriate and constructive tensions between exegetical, critical, hermeneutical, and theological concerns? This book seeks to develop the current lively discussion of theological hermeneutics by taking an extended test case, the book of Numbers, and seeing what it means in practice to hold all these concerns together. In the process the book attempts to reconceive the genre of "commentary" by combining focused attention to the details of the text with particular engagement with theological and hermeneutical concerns arising in and through the interpretive work. The book focuses on the main narrative elements of Numbers 11–25, although other passages are included (Numbers 5, 6, 33). With its mix of genres and its challenging theological perspectives, Numbers offers a range of difficult cases for traditional Christian hermeneutics. Briggs argues that the Christian practice of reading scripture requires engagement with broad theological concerns, and brings into his discussion Frei, Auerbach, Barth, Ricoeur, Volf, and many other biblical scholars. The book highlights several key formational theological questions to which Numbers provides illuminating answers: What is the significance and nature of trust in God? How does holiness (mediated in Numbers through the priesthood) challenge and redefine our sense of what is right, or "fair"? To what extent is it helpful to conceptualize life with God as a journey through a wilderness, of whatever sort? Finally, short of whatever promised land we may be, what is the context and role of blessing?

The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers

1997-09-04
The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers

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  • Author: David Wells
  • Publisher: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780140261493
  • Category : Mathematics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 260

Provides information on numbers and what makes particular ones noteworthy

Curvature and Betti Numbers. (AM-32), Volume 32

2016-03-02
Curvature and Betti Numbers. (AM-32), Volume 32

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  • Author: Salomon Bochner Trust
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • ISBN: 1400882206
  • Category : Mathematics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 190

The description for this book, Curvature and Betti Numbers. (AM-32), Volume 32, will be forthcoming.

Genetics in the Madhouse

2020-07-14
Genetics in the Madhouse

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  • Author: Theodore M. Porter
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • ISBN: 0691203237
  • Category : History
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 462

"In the early 1800s, a century before there was any concept of the gene, physicians in insane asylums began to record causes of madness in their admission books. Almost from the beginning, they pointed to heredity as the most important of these causes. As doctors and state officials steadily lost faith in the capacity of asylum care to stem the terrible increase of insanity, they began emphasizing the need to curb the reproduction of the insane. They became obsessed with identifying weak or tainted families and anticipating the outcomes of their marriages. Genetics in the Madhouse is the untold story of how the collection and sorting of hereditary data in mental hospitals, schools for 'feebleminded' children, and prisons gave rise to a new science of human heredity. In this compelling book, Theodore Porter draws on untapped archival evidence from across Europe and North America to bring to light the hidden history behind modern genetics. He looks at the institutional use of pedigree charts, censuses of mental illness, medical-social surveys, and other data techniques--innovative quantitative practices that were worked out in the madhouse long before the manipulation of DNA became possible in the lab. Porter argues that asylum doctors developed many of the ideologies and methods of what would come to be known as eugenics, and deepens our appreciation of the moral issues at stake in data work conducted on the border of subjectivity and science. A bold rethinking of asylum work, Genetics in the Madhouse shows how heredity was a human science as well as a medical and biological one"--Jacket.

The Angel Numbers Book

2021-12-14
The Angel Numbers Book

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  • Author: Mystic Michaela
  • Publisher: Simon and Schuster
  • ISBN: 1507217358
  • Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 288

"Have you ever noticed yourself waking up at exactly the same time every night? Or find yourself stuck on a certain page number of a book? What about seeing those very numbers repeated on signs and license plates while you travel? Numbers repeated throughout your day are one major way that angels communicate guidance, warning, and praise to let you know whether the path you are on is right for you. The Angel Numbers Book can help you decipher these messages. Here you'll receive the tools to understand the meaning of each number and number pattern sent by your angel guides. You'll also find space to record and reflect on the numbers you see, cultivating meanings that are personal to you and your experiences. You'll learn to turn your attention toward the communications of your angel guides, strengthen your understanding of the messages they are sending, and stay more tune in whenever they're trying to speak to you. Unlock your potential -- and light the way to a more satisfying, meaningful life -- with The Angel Numbers Book!" --

Numbers Don't Lie

2021-05-04
Numbers Don't Lie

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  • Author: Vaclav Smil
  • Publisher: Penguin
  • ISBN: 0525507817
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 368

"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author… Numbers Don't Lie takes everything that makes his writing great and boils it down into an easy-to-read format. I unabashedly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning."--Bill Gates, GatesNotes From the author of How the World Really Works, an essential guide to understanding how numbers reveal the true state of our world--exploring a wide range of topics including energy, the environment, technology, transportation, and food production. Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment--your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy? From data about our societies and populations, through measures of the fuels and foods that energize them, to the impact of transportation and inventions of our modern world--and how all of this affects the planet itself--in Numbers Don't Lie, Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge conventional thinking. Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, Numbers Don't Lie reveals how the US is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit--all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics--Numbers Don't Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.