Posts filed under Stat of the Week (619)

This week there were 5 nominations.

We’re awarding Nathaniel Wilson’s nomination of the NZ Herald‘s “complete ignorance of how averages work”:

Can I please nominate the New Zealand Herald, for displaying a complete ignorance of how averages work?

“Aucklanders’ rates bills have arrived in letterboxes and the figures
have come as a shock to some homeowers who have seen rises of 10 per
cent – despite the council promising an average increase of 2.9 per
cent.”

Because averages and maximums are not the same thing.

Thomas posted more about that story:

Obviously there’s nothing inconsistent about the average being 2.9% and the maximum being 10%. NZ’s average income is about $48000, but I take home somewhat more than that, and the CEO of Fonterra makes a whole lot more, and he may well not be the maximum. The average and the maximum are different. That’s not a shock.

The other point, that our nominator doesn’t make, is that rate increases are capped at 10%, and that all the people who hit the cap last year already knew that they would be seeing an increase this year, and roughly how much it would be. I know this because I live in Onehunga, where property values have gone up quite a lot, and I’m one of the people with a large rate increase. Since I read the rates notice I received last year I’m not at all shocked. I don’t have to say whether I’m happy or not, but it certainly wasn’t a surprise.

Congratulations Nathaniel, and thank you for the other nominations. Please keep them coming in!

Each week, we would like to invite readers of Stats Chat to submit nominations for our Stat of the Week competition and be in with the chance to win an iTunes voucher.

Here’s how it works:

• Anyone may add a comment on this post to nominate their Stat of the Week candidate before midday Friday August 23 2013.
• Statistics can be bad, exemplary or fascinating.
• The statistic must be in the NZ media during the period of August 17 – 23 2013 inclusive.
• Quote the statistic, when and where it was published and tell us why it should be our Stat of the Week.

Next Monday at midday we’ll announce the winner of this week’s Stat of the Week competition, and start a new one.

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If you’d like to comment on or debate any of this week’s Stat of the Week nominations, please do so below!

Each week, we would like to invite readers of Stats Chat to submit nominations for our Stat of the Week competition and be in with the chance to win an iTunes voucher.

Here’s how it works:

• Anyone may add a comment on this post to nominate their Stat of the Week candidate before midday Friday August 16 2013.
• Statistics can be bad, exemplary or fascinating.
• The statistic must be in the NZ media during the period of August 10 – 16 2013 inclusive.
• Quote the statistic, when and where it was published and tell us why it should be our Stat of the Week.

Next Monday at midday we’ll announce the winner of this week’s Stat of the Week competition, and start a new one.

(more…)

If you’d like to comment on or debate any of this week’s Stat of the Week nominations, please do so below!

Congratulations to Brendon Blue for his nomination of a the “10,000,000,000,000,000 times likely” statistic in last week’s Stat of the Week competition.

For a discussion on this, please refer to James Curran’s post: “10 quadrillion times more likely to have done it”.

Congratulations Brendon! Please add your nominations to this week’s competition.

Each week, we would like to invite readers of Stats Chat to submit nominations for our Stat of the Week competition and be in with the chance to win an iTunes voucher.

Here’s how it works:

• Anyone may add a comment on this post to nominate their Stat of the Week candidate before midday Friday August 9 2013.
• Statistics can be bad, exemplary or fascinating.
• The statistic must be in the NZ media during the period of August 3 – 9 2013 inclusive.
• Quote the statistic, when and where it was published and tell us why it should be our Stat of the Week.

Next Monday at midday we’ll announce the winner of this week’s Stat of the Week competition, and start a new one.

(more…)

If you’d like to comment on or debate any of this week’s Stat of the Week nominations, please do so below!

Each week, we would like to invite readers of Stats Chat to submit nominations for our Stat of the Week competition and be in with the chance to win an iTunes voucher.

Here’s how it works:

• Anyone may add a comment on this post to nominate their Stat of the Week candidate before midday Friday August 2 2013.
• Statistics can be bad, exemplary or fascinating.
• The statistic must be in the NZ media during the period of July 27 – August 2 2013 inclusive.
• Quote the statistic, when and where it was published and tell us why it should be our Stat of the Week.

Next Monday at midday we’ll announce the winner of this week’s Stat of the Week competition, and start a new one.

(more…)

If you’d like to comment on or debate any of this week’s Stat of the Week nominations, please do so below!