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Subject: Re: The Computer-Chess Player And The Mathematician (was: Waltzing Matil

Author: Dan Homan

Date: 09:09:39 08/18/98

Go up one level in this thread


On August 18, 1998 at 10:49:09, fca wrote:

<snip>

>>Dan, not Don - You have repeated this mistype intermittently in this
>>thread and it seems deliberate - I find it rather rude.
>
>Sorry, Dan.  I cannot see any rudeness, though, and certainly none was intended.
>Dann is also part of this thread.  Possibly contributing to my mistake.  The CCC
>format does not permit me to back up and then down a different subthread (which
>was necessary here, and still is, where one is quoting from someone in a
>non-preceding post) while preserving a partly written answer. Hence I was
>working from memory...

I think I had too little sleep last night.  I was getting paranoid.
The overall tone of your remarks (corrective, mysterious, aloof,
yet parentally supportive) I found to be an odd mix and coupled with the
multiple, but intermittent mis-spellings of my name, to be rather
patronizing.  Clearly I have overjudged here, I apologize.

<snip>

>
>(0) Nothing patronising intended.  The point is "Stats are hard".  To me too.
>(1) I have not made any comment or criticism re Dann's answers.
>(2) I found one mathematical error in your answer (^10 instead of ^20).  Perhaps
>you feel I should not have corrected it.  Sorry anyway.  btw I made a not
>dissimilar mistake too, which I also corrected.

I think that the correction of errors, whether mathematical or
typographical (it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference) is always
in order.

>(3) Your reply to Q(4) was in the *hundreds of thousands*.  Bruce's reply was
>*1*.  Is it surprising I should explore the reason why?  The reason being that
>Bruce actually IMO answered the exact question asked (which was IMO partly a bad
>question). You (Dan) perhaps answered what *should* have been asked.  Exactly
>illustrating the statistical tightrope that has already been highlighted by
>others, and which is (as Bruce pointed out) chess relevant.
>(4) All the answers Bruce gave were correct IMO (given the ambiguity in
>questions). He did not reply to the definitely *bad* Q(3), and I believe you
>(Dan) also (rightly IMO) chose to reply to another (unasked) question rather
>than Q3.  Which is not to say that Q(3) does not have an answer, but that I
>question what possible use the answer could be.  (like with the 1/3 BG answer).
>
>As you related two mathematician/physicist jokes/anecdotes in your last post,
>and had made humorous references to there being a catch and rising to the bait,
>I am perhaps to be forgiven for assuming I was not about to be flamed!

Sorry, again.  I get a bit defensive when I feel someone is trying to
yank my chain :)  I know now that this is simply the way you communicate
and no harm was intended.  I hope you will accept my apology.

Ok, fca, so we are dying to know what *your* answers are to the questions
you posed.

 - Dan

>
>Kind regards
>
>fca
>
>"Still smilin', though"
>
>
>PS: Assuming I am either stupid (always one's privilege to make such an
>assumption) or in some way mocking (which I was not) just might make one miss
>another possibility.





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