Full Width 
Shortcuts 
Sign Up 
Log In 
Articles 
Reading List More from Probably Overthinking It
I’ve been thinking about Think Linear Algebra for more than a decade, and recently I started working on it in earnest. If you want to get a sense of it, I’ve posted a draft chapter as a Jupyter notebook. In one way, I am glad I waited — I think it will be better, faster [to write], and stronger [?] because of AI tools. To be clear, I am writing this book, not AI. But I’m finding ChatGPT helpful for... Read More Read More The post Announcing Think Linear Algebra appeared first on Probably Overthinking It.
I’m not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their decisions. Last Tuesday I presented a talk and co-presented a workshop at ODSC, and on Thursday I presented a tutorial at PyCon. If you would like to follow along with my very busy week, here are the resources: Practical Bayesian Modeling with PyMC Co-presented with Alex Fengler for ODSC East 2025 In this tutorial, we explore Bayesian regression using PyMC – the... Read More Read More The post My very busy week appeared first on Probably Overthinking It.
The third edition of Think Stats is on its way to the printer! You can preorder now from Bookshop.org and Amazon (those are affiliate links), or if you can’t wait to get a paper copy, you can read the free, online version here. Here’s the new cover, still featuring a suspicious-looking archerfish. If you are not familiar with the previous editions, Think Stats is an introduction to practical methods for exploring and visualizing data, discovering relationships and trends, and communicating... Read More Read More The post Announcing Think Stats 3e appeared first on Probably Overthinking It.
The most recent data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) provides a first look at people born in the 2000s as young adults and an updated view of people born in the 1990s at the peak of their child-bearing years. Compared to previous generations at the same ages, these cohorts have fewer children, and they are less likely to say they intend to have children. Unless their plans change, trends toward lower fertility are likely to continue for... Read More Read More The post Young Adults Want Fewer Children appeared first on Probably Overthinking It.
This is the last in a series of excerpts from Elements of Data Science, now available from Lulu.com and online booksellers. This article is based on the Recidivism Case Study, which is about algorithmic fairness. The goal of the case study is to explain the statistical arguments presented in two articles from 2016: Both are about COMPAS, a statistical tool used in the justice system to assign defendants a “risk score” that is intended to reflect the risk that they... Read More Read More The post Algorithmic Fairness appeared first on Probably Overthinking It.
More in science
Amazingly, this blog has now been around for more than twenty years (!) - see this first post for reference from June of 2005, when I had much less gray hair and there were a lot more science blogs. Thanks to all of you for sticking around. Back then, when I debuted my writing to my loyal readers (all five of them at the time), I never thought I'd keep this up. Some info, including stats according to blogger: Total views: 8.3M Most views in one day, this past May 31, with 272K Top two most-viewed posts are this one from 2023 with a comment thread about Ranga Dias, and this one from 2009 titled "What is a plasmon?" Just a reminder that I have collected a bunch of condensed matter terms and concept posts here. I've also written some career-related posts, like a guide to faculty job searches, advice on choosing a graduate school, needs-to-be-updated advice on postdoc positions, etc. Some personal favorite posts, some of which I wish had gotten more notice, include the physics of drying your hands, the physics of why whiskey stones aren't as good as ice to cool your drink, materials and condensed matter in science fiction, the physics of vibranium, the physics of beskar, the physics of ornithopters, and why curving your pizza slice keeps if from flopping over. I'm also happy with why soft matter is hard, which was a well-viewed post. I also like to point out my essay about J. Henrik Schön, because I worry that people have forgotten about that episode. Real life has intruded quite a bit into my writing time the last couple of years, but I hope to keep doing this for a while longer. I also still hope one day to find the right time and approach to write a popular book about the physics of materials, why they are amazing, and why our understanding of this physics, limited as it is, is still an astonishing intellectual achievement. Two other things to read that I came across this week: This post about Maxwell's Demon from the Skull in the Stars blog (which has been around nearly as long as mine!) is an excellent and informative piece of writing. I'm definitely pointing my statistical and thermal physics undergraduate class to this next month. Ross McKenzie has a very nice looking review article up on the arXiv about emergence. I haven't read it yet, but I have no doubt that it will be well-written and thought-provoking.
Commercial forestry was never a good option for the wet peatlands of northeast Scotland, with planting financed by tax subsidies and sold on the mantra of ‘rural jobs’. The trees did not grow well and, thirty years on, more government money started to be spent to restore the same land, recreating habitats that have huge … Continue reading Peatland restoration – ploughing for plovers.
Episode four of the Works in Progress podcast is about land.
For decades, mathematicians have struggled to understand matrices that reflect both order and randomness, like those that model semiconductors. A new method could change that. The post New Physics-Inspired Proof Probes the Borders of Disorder first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Diplomats from around the world concluded nine days of talks in Geneva — plus a marathon overnight session that lasted into the early hours of Friday — with no agreement on a global plastics treaty. Read more on E360 →
