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5.15: Statistical Literacy

  • Page ID
    2371
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    Learning Objectives

    • Learning to use the Base Rate information to compute probability

    School shooting: The warning signs

    This webpage gives the FBI list of warning signs for school shooters.

    Example \(\PageIndex{1}\): What do you think?

    Do you think it is likely that someone showing a majority of these signs would actually shoot people in school?

    Solution

    Fortunately the vast majority of students do not become shooters. It is necessary to take this base rate information into account in order to compute the probability that any given student will be a shooter. The warning signs are unlikely to be sufficiently predictive to warrant the conclusion that a student will become a shooter. If an action is taken on the basis of these warning signs, it is likely that the student involved would never have become a shooter even without the action.


    This page titled 5.15: Statistical Literacy is shared under a Public Domain license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by David Lane via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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