31 May
2019
31 May
'19
10:17 a.m.
As a teenager I loved "How to Lie With Statistics"; does it have any successors, especially ones that focus on non-statistical forms of mathematical flimflam? I'd also be interested in egregious and/or amusing examples of math abuse, and in particular, examples of misuse of Lagrange interpolation. We mathematicians all know that it should always be used for interpolation, never for extrapolation. But do practitioners of client disciplines know this? I hope to include some examples of mathematical flimflam in my June 17 Mathematical Enchantments essay. As always, all contributions will be gratefully acknowledged in the essay. Jim Propp