3 ms·
This article makes the mistake of assuming the naive error bound is the actual error on the specific problem. This problem has very smooth functions, infinitely
by SideQuark 2y ago
This article makes the mistake of assuming the naive error bound is the actual error on the specific problem. This problem has very smooth functions, infinitely differentiable, and has derivatives tabulated. The error bound he states doesn't use this information.
The correct answer is to check this problem specifically, not apply much looser bounds.
- KolenCh 2y agoNew readers of John Cook may not know this: his posts are pedagogical, often are illustrating the gist of the idea or message, not including all the details or the optimal analysis. This post mentioned the motivation too. Also, he is a consultant, and this blog generates interests of that. He often works in clients’ data and perform EDA and provides solutions, such as statistical reasoning or methods. Ie while he write codes, it’s often not for production. He points people in the right direction so to speak.
- SideQuark 2y agoExcept this is not pointing in the right direction. It's demonstrably wrong. He then criticizes the author of the table, calling that person wrong. If I were hiring a consultant claiming math analysis skills and they posted such a fundamental mistake, I'd honestly move on to someone else. I've read Cook's post a long time, and he doesn't often make such logic errors. I suspect he'll retract his claims once he realizes his errors.