October 24, 2009

October 23, 2009

p-value

I have been wondering where dose the name of p-value (in statistics) come from. Is "p" from a name of a statistician? Or is it simply short for "probability"? I googled it but found no satisfactory result. Any suggestions?

October 16, 2009

Google Maps Street View Beyond the Streets

Google Blog: Dan Ratner:
With Street View on Google Maps, you can take a virtual drive over the Golden Gate Bridge or see the bustle of Times Square from the comfort of your own home. But some of the country's most interesting and fun places aren't accessible with our Street View car. What if you want to tour the campuses of prospective universities, scout a new running trial, or plan the most efficient route to your favorite roller coasters in a theme park?
I've been thinking if I am one day accepted to an institution outside China, how troublesome and costly would it be for me to pay a visit to the campuses to make the choice? Google gave me an answer.

October 9, 2009

October 2, 2009

The Most Difficult Language on Earth

On Wikipedia there is a page on the expression "Greek to me", referring to an incomprehensible language to the speaker of another language. Language Log made a tree graph of these relative relationships. By far Chinese seems to be quite hard, isn't it. Thank est's blog for the pointer. Image.