Correlation: Difference between revisions

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{{a|glossary|}}The idea, first articulated by statistician Karl Pearson<ref>So [https://slate.com/technology/2012/10/correlation-does-not-imply-causation-how-the-internet-fell-in-love-with-a-stats-class-cliche.html Slate Magazine argues, at any rate.</ref>, that a relationship between two variables could be characterised according to its strength and expressed in numbers.  
{{a|glossary|}}The idea, first articulated by statistician Karl Pearson<ref>So [https://slate.com/technology/2012/10/correlation-does-not-imply-causation-how-the-internet-fell-in-love-with-a-stats-class-cliche.html Slate Magazine argues, at any rate.</ref>, that a relationship between two variables could be characterised according to its strength and expressed in numbers.  


Now it is true that [[Correlation doesn’t imply causation]], but it doesn’t rule it out either.  And it is certainly true that a ''lack of correlation ''does'' imply a ''lack'' of causation.
===Correlation and causation===
Now it is true that [[correlation]] doesn’t imply [[causation]], but it doesn’t rule it out either.  And it is certainly true that a ''lack'' of correlation ''does'' imply a ''lack'' of [[causation]].


[[All other things being equal]], a [[correlation]] is more likely to evidence a [[causation]] than a ''lack'' of correlation, right? This is one of those logical canards, as Monty Python put it, “[[universal affirmative]]s can only be partially converted: all of Alma Cogan is dead, but only some of the class of dead people are Alma Cogan.”
[[All other things being equal]], a [[correlation]] is more likely to evidence a [[causation]] than a ''lack'' of correlation, right? This is one of those logical canards, as Monty Python put it, “[[universal affirmative]]s can only be partially converted: all of Alma Cogan is dead, but only some of the class of dead people are Alma Cogan.”

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