Thursday, August 26, 2010

Numbers

Numbers, when put in right perspective, can speak wonders. And it is all relative. If US spending in Iraq war is told to be $ 300 Billion, we don't know whether it is too small or too large. But if we are told that US spending for Afghan control is $ 3,000 Billion, then we know what both mean.

Presentation is all that matters. Look at this graph for instance - what could this be a graph of, where there is a short peak every monday, peaks just before summer and winter breaks for kids, and a trough on Christmas?


Could be sales of anything. Pattern of any activity.

It actually is the pattern of breakups in the US. Most break ups happen just before holidays (so that partners can explore new and better avenues)! Break ups at Christmas would be cruel, and hence the trough. And regular fights over weekends lead to rise in breakups on Monday.

Interesting.

And the source - a study conducted on facebook status updates, which monitored 10,000 individuals in US during the year.

Now who does these kind of studies? Need to join that firm. Who should I send my CV to..