Easily Stated but Hard Statistical Problems
Abstract
This is an expository paper written in response to an invitation to give a non-technical talk in a session devoted to 'Practical Aspects of Statistics' at the 1986 Annual Statistical Meetings. The goal of the session is to encourage interest in statistics among non-statisticians. The author chose to describe three problems of current research interest. The problems have the feature that they can be stated in a relatively easy fashion. The solutions however are difficult. References to partial solutions are given; all three problems have aspects that remain unsolved and are currently under study. The problem of Section 2 deals with survivorship data and concerns estimation of average remaining life. Section 3 considers a problem that pertains to assessing the degree of similarity between species' presence or absence on islands. Section 4 presents a problem in geometrical probability. To conform to the spirit of the session, I have chosen to describe the problems in words, de- emphasizing symbols and mathematics and aiming for the non-statistician.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA170057
Entities
People
- Myles Hollander
Organizations
- Florida State University