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A likelihood function

Maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a popular statistical method used for fitting a mathematical model to data. The modeling of real world data using estimation by maximum likelihood offers a way of tuning the free parameters of the model to provide a good fit. The method was pioneered by Sir Ronald A. Fisher between 1912 and 1922. For a fixed set of data and underlying probability model, maximum likelihood picks the values of the model parameters that make the data "more likely" than any other values of the parameters would make them. Maximum likelihood estimation gives a unique and easy way to determine solution in the case of the normal distribution and many other problems.

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William Edwards Deming

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900—December 20, 1993) was an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and consultant. Deming is widely credited with improving production in the United States during World War II, although he is perhaps best known for his work in Japan. There, from 1950 onward he taught top management how to improve design (and thus service), product quality, testing and sales (the last through global markets). Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later renown for innovative high-quality products and its economic power. He is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage. Despite some considering him somewhat of a hero in Japan, he was only beginning to win widespread recognition in the U.S. at the time of his death.

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Credit: Imagecreator

A correlation indicates the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two random variables. This figure shows several sets of data, with the correlation coefficient of x and y for each set. The correlation reflects the noisiness and direction of a linear relationship (top row), but not the slope of that relationship (middle), nor many aspects of nonlinear relationships (bottom). The figure in the center has a slope of 0 but in that case the correlation coefficient is undefined because the variance of Y is zero.

Did you know?

• ... that the Jadad scale is the world's most widely used means of assessing the methodological quality of clinical trials?
• ... that Ulpian's life table predicted a life expectancy of 19 to 23 years for citizens of the Roman Empire?
• ... that there are many ways to create misleading graphs?
• ... that while the center of gravity for a set of points is located at the spot from which the sum of the squares of distances to all the points is minimized, the geometric median is the spot from which the sum of distances is minimized?
• ... that square root biased sampling was originally developed as a way to sample long sequences of DNA?
• ... that the Laplace distribution with a mean of zero is a special case of the geometric stable distribution?
• ... that the log-Cauchy distribution has been proposed as a model for the progression of HIV in individuals?
• ... that bivariate analysis is one of simplest forms of quantitative (statistical) analysis?
• ... that, while President of the American Statistical Association, Robert V. Hogg wore the name tag "Boss Hogg" after the character on the television series The Dukes of Hazzard?

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