Friday, August 28, 2009

Just another dream



Last night I had a dream. I was at an airport/train station with a bunch of SOM people, all headed to various cities for the day -- Boston, Providence, New York, etc. My classmates had name tags and ribbons indicating where they were going and how they were getting there, but I didn't. I was too embarrassed to admit I didn't know what was going on, but eventually I got over it and asked an SOM staffer for help. She asked where I wanted to go, and I said Boston (since I've never been there), and she added me to some list. And off I went. I wonder what it could possibly mean ...

Meanwhile, it is gorgeous in New Haven -- crisp and cool, enough so that one can slide under one's comforter instead of sweating all night on top of it. And, yes, Rob Marciano of CNN is at this moment in Mystic, Connecticut, telling me about Tropical Storm Danny. I will pretend it's not true.

Speaking of jobs that depend on an understanding of probability, I really enjoyed doing my first probability assignment! I looove it. Here's an example of one of the questions:

A cancer screening procedure would result in detecting 75 percent of persons with cancer, but would falsely identify 1 percent of those without cancer. It is estimated that 1 in 300 persons examined has cancer. What is the probability that an individual does not have cancer if the test is negative? What is the probability that an individual has cancer if the test is positive? Do these results make sense? Explain in a few sentences.

So fun! Well, maybe not "time of my life" fun, but I love to sit down with a pen and paper and grapple.

Speaking of "time of my life" fun, if I have the stamina, I shall participate in a delightful evening of pub golf tonight. I think we all know where this is headed ...

1 comment:

  1. The probability that I suck at probability questions is probably true.

    ReplyDelete