Archive for October, 2007
Charting a Course
October 25th, 2007(Today’s post is about charts. Mainly, I’m going to talk about the production of charts, and it’ll benefit you the most if you’re looking to make some yourself. They might seem simple, but I think this post will increase your appreciation of the humble chart, too. Even if you’re not much into making them, this post should allow you to pick out some frequent flaws in charts you may see, an always-popular topic at dinner parties.)
Charts are one of the most important parts of data analysis. They form one half of the “dynamic duo” of reporting …
Fun With Microsoft Excel
October 18th, 2007I use Microsoft Excel a lot. If you’re reading this, there’s probably a good chance you do too.
(Quick refresher: If you’ve been living under a rock with no internet access for the last decade and haven’t heard of Excel, it’s Microsoft’s full-featured spreadsheet tool for Windows. It crunches numbers, makes charts, stuff like that. If you’re not familiar with it, you should probably read some about the program first. Also, since I’m all for learning by doing, I highly recommend having access to Excel for this post. You can probably get a …
The Direct Approach
October 11th, 2007I recently read an excellent book about data analysis (no, really) by Ian Ayers called “Super Crunchers”, which is highly touted by Steven Levitt, a co-author of his that also co-wrote the bestseller “Freakonomics”. In fact, “Super Crunchers” was featured on the Freakonomics blog, and a giant Levitt quote adorns the book’s cover. (Which, of course, is how I found out about it; he’s over there in my sidebar on the right for a reason.) After I saw the book referenced again in The Economist, complete with a Black Swan reference, I knew I had to read …
Face Value
October 4th, 2007I’ve been playing poker since I was little, though much less in recent years. To give you an idea of just HOW long, my parents divorced when I was nine, and the first day my dad left to go to his own apartment he handed my brother and I both a deck of cards. Thankfully he was back the next day (he would visit daily for many years), but the gift was symbolic.
Playing card games of all kinds is something of a tradition in our family, and something I think we’re pretty good at. And one of …