Funny Stuff (Chapter 4)

A new investor named Mr. Mean was talking to a statistician about his new knowledge of stock market terminology. "I now know what the term 'net gain' means," said Mr. Mean. "At the end of my first day I had gained 60%. Today, I've lost 40%. Thus, my net gain over the 2 days is 20%." The statistician smiled first and then looked Mr. Mean squarely in the eye and said softly, "I sorry to inform you of this, Mr. Mean, but you've really had a net LOSS of 4%."

If you want to find a pie chart, go to a bakery. If you want to find a bar chart, go anywhere except to an AA meeting. Histograms, of course, hang on the walls of those who study the past!

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These 2 jokes were not newly written by me. Instead, they were plucked from depositories of statistical humor, edited slightly, and posted here to in an effort to show that there's a lighter side to this supposedly dry discipline. If you'd like to see more "funny stuff" about statistics, click here to enter Gary Ramseyer's wonderful website entitled "First Internet Gallery of Statistics Jokes."

Copyright © 2003 Schuyler W. Huck
All rights reserved.