x

13
RANDOM WALKS AND MORE ABOUT DATA VISUALIZATION ................. 179

13.1
The Drunkards Walk ...................................................................... 179

13.2
Biased Random Walks .................................................................... 186

13.3
Treacherous Fields .......................................................................... 191

14
MONTE CARLO SIMULATION .................................................................. 193

14.1
Pascals Problem ............................................................................. 194

14.2
Pass or Dont Pass? ......................................................................... 195

14.3
Using Table Lookup to Improve Performance ................................... 199

14.4
Finding ........................................................................................ 200

14.5
Some Closing Remarks About Simulation Models ............................ 204

15
UNDERSTANDING EXPERIMENTAL DATA .............................................. 207

15.1
The Behavior of Springs .................................................................. 207

15.1.1
Using Linear Regression to Find a Fit ....................................... 210

15.2
The Behavior of Projectiles .............................................................. 214

15.2.1
Coefficient of Determination ..................................................... 216

15.2.2
Using a Computational Model ................................................... 217

15.3
Fitting Exponentially Distributed Data ............................................ 218

15.4
When Theory Is Missing .................................................................. 221

16
LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS .................................................. 222

16.1
Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO) ...................................................... 222

16.2
Pictures Can Be Deceiving .............................................................. 223

16.3
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc ............................................................... 225

16.4
Statistical Measures Dont Tell the Whole Story ............................... 226

16.5
Sampling Bias................................................................................. 228

16.6
Context Matters .............................................................................. 229

16.7
Beware of Extrapolation .................................................................. 229

16.8
The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy ...................................................... 230

16.9
Percentages Can Confuse ................................................................ 232

16.10
Just Beware .................................................................................. 233

17
KNAPSACK AND GRAPH OPTIMIZATION PROBLEMS .............................. 234

17.1
Knapsack Problems ........................................................................ 234

17.1.1
Greedy Algorithms .................................................................... 235

17.1.2
An Optimal Solution to the 0/1 Knapsack Problem ................... 238