ipl-logo

Summary Of The Median Isn T The Message By Steven Jay Gould

753 Words4 Pages

If you have taken any kind of statistics course or have a middle school education then the definitions of mode, median, and mean should be familiar. With the median being the middle value in a set of data, mode being the most recurring variable, and mean being he average. In Steven Jay Gould’s essay, The Median isn’t the Message he describes his experience as he faced a cancer diagnosis early in his life. He was told that his median mortality was eight months. Naturally our mind is fixated on the value, eight months. Believing that we will only have eight months to live. However, this is not the case, like the flipping of a switch, Gould’s rational mind returned to him. With that a rush of relief washed over him, why? Because, his knowledge of statistics helped ease his conscious where anyone else would believe their demise was imminent. …show more content…

This is the point that Gould really tries to hammer in, is that median and mean are not the same thing and entail completely different things. The median is the middle value of a set of data, not the average. In the article, Gould describes it as arranging a group of kids by height and the middle height child simply shorter or taller than half the kids (Gould 1985). Thus, if given a data set of mortality rates then one would find that the middle mortality was 8 months after diagnosis. Meaning that half of the population would survive less than 8 months and another half would survive longer than it. This alone allowed Gould to understand that he could have a fighting chance if he landed on the far-right side of the

Show More
Related

  • The Outliers Gladwell Analysis

    1495 Words  | 6 Pages

    Malcom Gladwell, the author of The Outliers, analyzes the factors to success based on real-life example. Through statistical facts and logical reasoning, he attempts to prove how success is more than just hard work and being intelligent. He supports his arguments with accurately calculated statistical facts to gain the trust of his audience and to work towards 2proving his points. Gladwell determines the reasons of success by comparing well-known successful people and finding commonalities between those people. Gladwell does not believe anyone can be a self-made man.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Income Inequality By Robert Reich

    327 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robert Reich starts off his article by stating the idea that income inequality is necessary for an economy to function at is fullest because people need incentive to work hard and make it to the top. Once he gets into the section about what we need to do to fix this growing problem of the wealth gap he states that there is not any one thing that we can do to fix it rather there need to be multiple things to happen to fix it. The first way Reich says we can fix the economy for a smaller wealth gap is to raise the minimum wage to about 15 dollars an hours in industries that are growing very fast like fast-food and hospitals. These industries are making large amounts of money but they are paying their workers very little. His next step is to get

    Read More

  • Paul Krugman Confronting Inequality Summary

    1158 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kaitlyn Johnson English, 008 September 29, 2015 Inequality Inequality has been a major problem all over the world. Not just with race or gender, but now ones' income puts them aside from others. and they are catorgarized. Gary S. Becker, a Noble laurete in economics, and Kevin M. Murphy, a professor at the University of Chicago and a recipient of a 2005 MacCrthur "genius" fellowship, believe that a higher education equals higher income. Paul Krugmam, a teacher of economics at Princeton and the city University of New York, uses people who have had an impact on America.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Why I Hope To Die At 75 By Ezekiel

    652 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans are living too long. They are trying to prolong life and delay death. One such person, Ezekiel Emanuel wrote "Why I Hope to Die at 75," and he argues that living too long is a loss (1). He is stating that he does not like this trend. Emanuel does not hope to extend his life as long as possible.

    Read More

  • The Middle Class In The Film Inequality For All

    1551 Words  | 7 Pages

    In the movie, Inequality for All, there are a lot of important facts and research about our American economy that has not been helpful for the middle class. It has been beneficial for the upper class on many different levels but it hurts the heart and soul of the American workforce which is again the middle class. Without the middle class there would be no upper class, the middle class is very essential to the American economy flowing smoothly. In this film, former United States secretary of labor Robert Reich travels across America looking for answers to what happened to our economy. Reich explains what America has been and become over the last one hundred years.

    Read More

  • Malcom Gladwell's Outliers: The Story Of Success

    407 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "Outliers: The story of success", Malcom Gladwell explained and gave examples of ways to be successful. There are many ways that Gladwell mentioned, such as luck, practice, background, family, and culture. There are many more of course, but I will save time. There are three of which I think are the most important, these being Intelligence, Social Skills, and Location; and these are explanations as to why I think these are the most important.

    Read More

  • The Great Influenza Rhetorical Analysis

    429 Words  | 2 Pages

    Author John M. Barry, in The Great Influenza, claims that scientists must embrace uncertainty and doubt their ideas in order to be successful in their research. To support his claim, he first states that “uncertainty creates weakness”, then lists the traits required by scientists (including curiosity and creativity), and finally explains that experiments must be made to work by the investigator. The purpose of this is to further support his claim in order to encourage readers to embrace uncertainty because certainty creates something to lean on, while uncertainty forces one to manipulate experiments to produce answers. Barry adopts a formal tone to appeal to a worldwide audience, specifically those interested in scientific research, by using

    Read More

  • The Great Influenza Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    436 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the passage from The Great Influenza, John M. Barry uses rhetorical strategies like: antithetical ideas, extended metaphors, and diction to characterize scientific research. In the first paragraph, Barry uses a parallel sentence structure of an antithetical idea when discussing Certainty versus Uncertainty, he uses Certainty versus Uncertainty to intensify the words in the next paragraph. " Certainty creates strength. Certainty gives one something upon which to lean.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Let There Be Dark

    442 Words  | 2 Pages

    Paul Bogard is very convincing in “Let There Be Dark” he uses various methods and figurative language in order to convince the audience that darkness is necessary. By appealing to the reader’s emotions, logic, and to his credibility Paul Bogard builds a strong argument. The author uses logic to help make his argument more convincing. For example, in the first paragraph he uses a study to prove his point.

    Read More

  • Essay On Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    593 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pod Cast Malcom Gladwell is author of Outliers The story of success. Gladwell speaks on success how circumstances may out come your success but that may not be that case. Tony Robbins a motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist. Robbins doesn’t see circumstances as a determined factor.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Outliers By Malcolm Gladwell

    1073 Words  | 5 Pages

    Intrinsic factors critically considered when people think about the main components of success. However, Malcolm Gladwell, a famous writer, contradicts this tendency through the book, Outliers. The book, Outliers insists that extrinsic factors define success rather than the intrinsic ones. Nonetheless, Gladwell himself goes against the topic of Outliers in his assertion: “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Gladwell, 2008).” The assertion implies that individuals could achieve success only with those intrinsic factors.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Great Influenza By John Barry

    592 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a passage from The Great Influenza, author John M. Barry writes about what it is like to be a scientist. He describes scientists as pioneers and uses that to get across his idea. The author states that being a scientist is brave and uses metaphor, the motif of an explorer, and logos to prove his point. In the start of the passage, the author makes the point that to be a scientist is to be uncertain.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: The American Middle Class

    189 Words  | 1 Pages

    Work Cited Madland, David. " Growth and the Middle Class." Democracy Journal. 04 Mar. 2011. Web.

    Read More

  • Income Inequality In America Essay

    449 Words  | 2 Pages

    3.1 How income inequality affect on people live in America. The income gap in America affects people, who live in this country. The issue has a strong impact in America’s society; in particular, the nutritional disparity between rich and poor people. In USA, the food gap becomes the top signal for the class distinction, but it used to be clothing or fashion. The food inequality in America is not only influencing the poverty, it is also cost hundreds of billions of dollar per year because of Non Communicable Diseases (NDCs) (Ferdman, 2014).

    Read More

  • Mishel's Theory Of Uncertainty In Nursing

    344 Words  | 2 Pages

    Introduction Merle Mishel (1988), a middle-ranged theorist is known for her research for uncertainty and its management for chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Merriam-Webster (2011) defines uncertainty as; something not being certain; a state or quality of being uncertain: doubt. Mishel (1988) has an uncertainty in illness theory and defined uncertainty as not having the ability to distinguish the meaning associated with illness-related events occurring when the decision maker is unable to assign definite value to objects or events, or is unable to predict outcomes accurately (Mishel, 1988). McCormick (2002) states that a state of uncertainty is a major component of all illness understandings and it affects psychosocial adaptation and outcomes of disease. Uncertainty is the inability to determine the sense of illness-related events, occurring when the decision maker is unable to assign definite value to objects or events, or is unable to predict outcomes accurately (Mishel, 1988).

    Read More

More about Summary Of The Median Isn T The Message By Steven Jay Gould

Open Document