Comments on: No results found for “true number may be lower or higher” http://knowledgeproblem.com/2009/09/28/no-results-found-for-true-number-may-be-lower-or-higher/ Commentary on Economics, Information and Human Action Mon, 21 May 2012 15:20:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: David Zetland http://knowledgeproblem.com/2009/09/28/no-results-found-for-true-number-may-be-lower-or-higher/#comment-9597 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:30:20 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.com/?p=5550#comment-9597 I prefer YMMV :)

]]> By: Tom http://knowledgeproblem.com/2009/09/28/no-results-found-for-true-number-may-be-lower-or-higher/#comment-9591 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:01:12 +0000 http://knowledgeproblem.com/?p=5550#comment-9591 Yet more evidence of sloppy journalism. This may be economics at work, however: since newspapers with careful journalists can’t support themselves, bloggers are taking their place. The true number of careful journalists may be higher than the true number of careful bloggers (at least if we’re talking in percentage terms.)

On another note, did you consider that the true number of hits for “the true number may be lower or higher” may be higher (but not lower) than your estimate of 0?

In other words, there are many numerical estimates which can *only* be underestimates or overestimates, but not both. A careful journalist will also know the difference. (I admit that this is just another minor bias, similar to the one you pointed out.

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