I don't understand why people accept certain formulas in statistics without a mathematical proof style argument. You see this a lot in statistics textbooks and unfortunately this spills over with the instructors who are themselves ignorant of where the formulas come from yet teach them anyway.
How come in statistics there is very little justification for the formulas used and proofs are almost nonexistent
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2I'm not sure this is a question we can give a neutral answer to. – 2012-05-08
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1Maybe you're looking at the wrong books. A lot of those books are intended for people who want to focus on the applications and have no time to discuss theory... – 2012-05-08
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0... or who lack the necessary background to deal with the theory. – 2012-05-08
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1Why should everyone who uses statistics know the proofs? People have made/saved lots of money by using formulae that work which they don't rigorously understand. – 2012-05-08
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6Yes, some people have made huge amounts of money by using statistical formulae in ways that are not justified. And if this eventually causes their employers to go bankrupt, no problem - the government will bail them out! – 2012-05-08
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0@RobertIsrael I think that was his point. – 2012-05-08
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0Ahh, wonderful option pricing... – 2012-05-08