ON THE WEB: CORRELATIONS
by Hazed
Sometimes two things are linked because one causes the other. For example, bad driving causes car crashes; eating too much makes you get to get fat; smoking gives you cancer.
But sometimes two things can be linked, without one causing the other. There’s a correlation, not a cause. Surveys often throw up these strange correlations - and it’s easy to be misled and think that one does cause the other, when really they are both caused by a third factor, or it’s just a coincidence.
This website lists some startling correlations that have shown up. For example: 15 percent of people who dislike mayonnaise are good dancers, compared with 29 percent of people in general. Or 48 percent of people can burp at will. But of those who don't enjoy camping, only 33 percent can burp at will.
Crazy! Read these correlations here. And then remember them next time you read a newspaper article telling you that yoghurt prevents baldness, or watching TV gives you a nose bleed, or something equally spurious!
