Changes

== Statistical analysis ==

== Statistical analysis ==

This came up on the recent changes and I was somewhat shocked by the fundamental mistakes underlying this apparent 'mystery'.

This came up on the recent changes and I {{hide|was somewhat shocked by|saw some}} the fundamental mistakes underlying this apparent 'mystery'.

The article ONLY lists a very few cases of Hollywood (and even some who have nothing to do with Hollywood) actresses who have been diagnosed with breast cancer at a relatively young age. They have been listed because they are below the average age for diagnosis, but as has been pointed out this figure is the mean, by definition it will have values above and below. There will also be many examples of Hollywood actresses diagnosed with the condition after the average age, and I expect that if an actual survey were done the average age of diagnosis when limited to hollywood actresses would be very close to the national average. However, this raises another fundamental flaw. The group in question is far too small in mathematical terms for any meaningful conclusions to be drawn. The definition of the group of people in question is also highly arbitrary making any sort of mathematical assessment of the group difficult. [[User:RobertWDP|RobertWDP]] 07:49, 27 February 2009 (EST)

The article ONLY lists a very few cases of Hollywood (and even some who have nothing to do with Hollywood) actresses who have been diagnosed with breast cancer at a relatively young age. They have been listed because they are below the average age for diagnosis, but as has been pointed out this figure is the mean, by definition it will have values above and below. There will also be many examples of Hollywood actresses diagnosed with the condition after the average age, and I expect that if an actual survey were done the average age of diagnosis when limited to hollywood actresses would be very close to the national average. However, this raises another fundamental flaw. The group in question is far too small in mathematical terms for any meaningful conclusions to be drawn. The definition of the group of people in question is also highly arbitrary making any sort of mathematical assessment of the group difficult. [[User:RobertWDP|RobertWDP]] 07:49, 27 February 2009 (EST)