Editing 1781: Artifacts
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
β | The comic shows [[Cueball]] presenting data that was probably gathered in research | + | The comic shows [[Cueball]] presenting data that was probably gathered in research. Cueball seems to have made some kind of mistake in either the statistics or the measurement of the undefined subject of his research, thus his data results in many outliers. The word artifact is a wordplay with two meanings. It is either an {{w|Artifact_(archaeology)|archaeological artifact}} (such as the {{w|Holy Grail}} as in ''{{w|Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade}}'') or a fault in your experiment, where you (usually accidentally) influence the measurement with your equipment or unanticipated environmental factors. These are called {{w|Artifact_(error)|error artifacts}}. |
β | {{w|Indiana Jones}} is (often humorously) [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24595365/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/indiana-jones-would-make-bad-archaeologist/#.WG1XuflViig cited] as being a bad {{w|archaeologist}}. He | + | {{w|Indiana Jones}} is (often humorously) [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24595365/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/indiana-jones-would-make-bad-archaeologist/#.WG1XuflViig cited] as being a bad {{w|archaeologist}}. He sometimes destroys the area he is looking for artifacts in, which would count as not handling artifacts right, and most often ends up loosing the objects he has found (for instance the Holy Grail or the {{w|Ark of the Covenant|Ark}} in {{w|Raiders of the Lost Ark}}). |
An example of an error artifact is the measurement of the force between two charged metal spheres ({{w|Coulomb force}}), where the potential of unearthed nearby objects influences the measurement, thus causing an artifact. Artifacts have been mentioned before in xkcd, as in [[1453: fMRI]], where getting into the MRI machine induced unintended effects, such as thoughts of claustrophobia. | An example of an error artifact is the measurement of the force between two charged metal spheres ({{w|Coulomb force}}), where the potential of unearthed nearby objects influences the measurement, thus causing an artifact. Artifacts have been mentioned before in xkcd, as in [[1453: fMRI]], where getting into the MRI machine induced unintended effects, such as thoughts of claustrophobia. | ||
β | The title text refers to the entire data set being "outliers." In statistics, an outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations. One way to have a data set composed entirely of outliers would be a data set with N points, in | + | The title text refers to the entire data set being "outliers." In statistics, an outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations. One way to have a data set composed entirely of outliers would be a data set with N points, in an N-dimentional space, where each point is zero for every dimension except one, unique to itself.[http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1302395/n-points-can-be-equidistant-from-each-other-only-in-dimensions-ge-n-1] All these points are equidistant from each other. |
We could also infer that the accusation is a jab at the fact that the data points are all over the place; a good example of such chaotic data can be see in [[1725: Linear Regression]]. | We could also infer that the accusation is a jab at the fact that the data points are all over the place; a good example of such chaotic data can be see in [[1725: Linear Regression]]. | ||
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+ | Randall is also applying one of his hobbies in this comic by using data in singular form. See [[1429: Data]]. This had already caused discussion in the [[Talk:1781: Artifacts|comments of this comic]] only a few hours after it came on-line. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |