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jakobegger | 6 years ago

I made them up.

discuss

order

crististm|6 years ago

Of course they're made up. That's why I asked.

If you make a conclusion on made up data you get bogus conclusion.

It may be a good conclusion, but not for real life where facts don't match made up data.

jakobegger|6 years ago

> If you make a conclusion on made up data you get bogus conclusion

No. You work with made up numbers to understand the problem. Then you can make conclusions even without knowing the precise numbers.

For example, my analysis doesn't change much wheter the rate of lawsuits is 0.1% or 0.01% or 0.001%. It would change if the rate of lawsuits is 1%.

But I am pretty sure that the rate of lawsuits after interview rejection is much less than 1%. So I can make a conclusion without knowing precise numbers.

Calculations based on estimates come up all the time, and they are very valuable. They make it clear what assumptions your decisions are based on.

What's the alternative? You have to make a decision. If you don't want to use estimates, what are you going to base your decision on? Whatever feels right?