{"id":308,"date":"2019-09-19T15:15:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T15:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/?p=308"},"modified":"2020-04-16T21:10:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T21:10:30","slug":"what-should-i-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What should I do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I am planning to be on sabbatical from June 2020 to August 2021, so I am thinking about how to spend it. Let me tell you what I <em>can<\/em> do, and you can tell me what I <em>should<\/em> do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Data Science<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I consider myself a data scientist, but that means different things to different people.  More specifically, I can contribute in the following areas: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Data exploration, modeling, and prediction, <\/li><li>Bayesian statistics and machine learning, <\/li><li>Scientific computing and optimization, <\/li><li>Software engineering and reproducible science,<\/li><li>Technical communication, including data visualization.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I have written a series of books related to data science and scientific computing, including <em>Think Stats<\/em>, <em>Think Bayes<\/em>, <em>Physical Modeling in MATLAB<\/em>, and <em>Modeling and Simulation in Python<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I practice what I teach.  During a previous sabbatical, I was a Visiting Scientist at Google, working in their <em>Make the Web Faster<\/em> initiative.  I worked on measurement and modeling of network performance, related to <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=GxBFR3sAAAAJ&amp;hl=en\">my previous research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a way of developing, demonstrating, and teaching data science skills, I write a blog called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/\">Probably Overthinking It<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Software Engineering<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve been programming since before you (the median-age reader of this article) were born, mostly in C for the first 20 years, and mostly in Python for the last 20.  But I&#8217;ve also worked in Java, MATLAB, and a bunch of functional languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of my code has been for research or education, but in my time at Google I learned to write industrial-grade code with professional software engineering tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I work in public view, so you can see <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/AllenDowney\">the good, the bad, and the ugly on GitHub<\/a>.  As a recent example, here&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/AllenDowney\/empiricaldist\">a library I am designing for representing discrete probability distributions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I work on teams: I have co-taught classes, co-authored books, consulted with companies and colleges, and collaborated on software projects.  I&#8217;ve done <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scruminc.com\">Scrum training<\/a>, and I use agile methods and tools on most of my projects (with varying degrees of fidelity). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Curriculum design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are creating a new college from scratch, I am one of a small number of people with that experience.  When I joined Olin College in 2003, the first year curriculum had run once.  I was in for the creation of Years 2, 3, and 4, as well as the reinvention of Year 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, Olin has come to be recognized as a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olin.edu\/news-events\/2019\/olin-college-named-one-the-nation\u2019s-top-colleges-princeton-review\/\">top undergraduate engineering program<\/a> and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.olin.edu\/news-events\/2018\/mit-study-names-olin-college-world-leader-engineering-education\/\">world leader in innovative education<\/a>.  I am proud of my work here and the amazing colleagues I have done it with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My projects focus on the role of computing and data science in education, especially engineering education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I was part of a team that developed a novel introduction to <strong>computational modeling and simulation<\/strong>, and I wrote a book about it, now available for <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/physical-modeling-in-matlab\/\">MATLAB<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/modsimpy\/\">Python<\/a>.<\/li><li>I developed an introductory <strong>data science<\/strong> course for Olin, <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-stats-2e\/\">a book<\/a>, and an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.datacamp.com\/courses\/exploratory-data-analysis-in-python\">online class<\/a>.  Currently I am working with a team at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seas.harvard.edu\/directory\/adowney\">Harvard<\/a> to develop a data science class for their GenEd program.<\/li><li><strong>Bayesian statistics<\/strong> is not just for grad students.  I developed an undergraduate class that teaches Bayesian methods first, and wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-bayes\/\">a book about it<\/a>.<\/li><li><strong>Data structures<\/strong> is a problematic class in the Computer Science curriculum.  I developed a class on <strong>Complexity Science<\/strong> as an alternative approach to the topic, and wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-complexity-2e\/\">a book about it<\/a>.  And for people coming to the topic later, I developed an online class and <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-data-structures\/\">a book<\/a>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>I have also written a series of books to help people learn to program in <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-python\/\">Python<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-java\/\">Java<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenteapress.com\/thinkcpp\/\">C++<\/a>.  Other authors have adapted my books for <a href=\"https:\/\/benlauwens.github.io\/ThinkJulia.jl\/latest\/book.html\">Julia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/greenteapress.com\/wp\/think-perl-6\/\">Perl<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/greenteapress.com\/thinkocaml\/\">OCaml<\/a>, and other languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My books and curricular materials are used in universities, colleges, and high schools all over the world.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have taught webcasts and workshops on these topics at conferences like PyCon and SciPy, and for companies developing in-house expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are creating a new training program, department, or college, maybe I can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What I am looking for<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to work on interesting projects with potential for impact.  I am especially interested in projects related to the following areas, which are the keys we need to get through the 21st Century with a habitable planet and a high quality of life for the people on it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Nuclear energy<\/li><li>Desalination<\/li><li>CO\u2082 sequestration<\/li><li>Geoengineering<\/li><li>Alternatives to meat<\/li><li>Transportation without fossil fuels<\/li><li>Global education<\/li><li>Global child welfare<\/li><li>Infrastructure for natural disaster and rising sea level <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I live in Needham MA, and probably will not relocate for this sabbatical, but I could work almost anywhere in eastern Massachusetts.  I would consider remote work, but I would rather work with people face to face, at least sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I&#8217;ll need financial support for the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what should I do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more on my background, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/AllenDowney\/Portfolio\/raw\/master\/Allen_Downey_CV.pdf\">here is my CV<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am planning to be on sabbatical from June 2020 to August 2021, so I am thinking about how to spend it. Let me tell you what I can do, and you can tell me what I should do. Data Science I consider myself a data scientist, but that means different things to different people. More specifically, I can contribute in the following areas: Data exploration, modeling, and prediction, Bayesian statistics and machine learning, Scientific computing and optimization, Software engineering&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am planning to be on sabbatical from June 2020 to August 2021, so I am thinking about how to spend it. Let me tell you what I can do, and you can tell me what I should do. Data Science I consider myself a data scientist, but that means different things to different people. More specifically, I can contribute in the following areas: Data exploration, modeling, and prediction, Bayesian statistics and machine learning, Scientific computing and optimization, Software engineering... Read More Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Probably Overthinking It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AllenDowney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AllenDowney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AllenDowney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AllenDowney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"AllenDowney\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4e5bfb2e9af6c3446cb0031a7bf83207\"},\"headline\":\"What should I do?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\"},\"wordCount\":792,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\",\"name\":\"What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What should I do?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Probably Overthinking It\",\"description\":\"Data science, Bayesian Statistics, and other ideas\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Probably Overthinking It\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/probably_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/probably_logo.png\",\"width\":714,\"height\":784,\"caption\":\"Probably Overthinking It\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/AllenDowney\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/allendowney\/\",\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/allendowney.bsky.social\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4e5bfb2e9af6c3446cb0031a7bf83207\",\"name\":\"AllenDowney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fb01b3a7f7190bea1bbf7f0852e686c2f8c03b099222df2ce4bc7926f15bcb43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fb01b3a7f7190bea1bbf7f0852e686c2f8c03b099222df2ce4bc7926f15bcb43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"AllenDowney\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/author\/allendowney_6dbrc4\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It","og_description":"I am planning to be on sabbatical from June 2020 to August 2021, so I am thinking about how to spend it. Let me tell you what I can do, and you can tell me what I should do. Data Science I consider myself a data scientist, but that means different things to different people. More specifically, I can contribute in the following areas: Data exploration, modeling, and prediction, Bayesian statistics and machine learning, Scientific computing and optimization, Software engineering... Read More Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/","og_site_name":"Probably Overthinking It","article_published_time":"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00","author":"AllenDowney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AllenDowney","twitter_site":"@AllenDowney","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AllenDowney","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/"},"author":{"name":"AllenDowney","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4e5bfb2e9af6c3446cb0031a7bf83207"},"headline":"What should I do?","datePublished":"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/"},"wordCount":792,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/","url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/","name":"What should I do? - Probably Overthinking It","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-19T15:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-16T21:10:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/19\/what-should-i-do\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What should I do?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/","name":"Probably Overthinking It","description":"Data science, Bayesian Statistics, and other ideas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Probably Overthinking It","url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/probably_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/probably_logo.png","width":714,"height":784,"caption":"Probably Overthinking It"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AllenDowney","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/allendowney\/","https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/allendowney.bsky.social"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4e5bfb2e9af6c3446cb0031a7bf83207","name":"AllenDowney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fb01b3a7f7190bea1bbf7f0852e686c2f8c03b099222df2ce4bc7926f15bcb43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fb01b3a7f7190bea1bbf7f0852e686c2f8c03b099222df2ce4bc7926f15bcb43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"AllenDowney"},"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/author\/allendowney_6dbrc4\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":843,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/20\/resampling-for-logistic-regression\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":0},"title":"Resampling for Logistic Regression","author":"AllenDowney","date":"January 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent question on Reddit asked about using resampling with logistic regression. The responses suggest two ways to do it, one parametric and one non-parametric. I implemented both of them and then invented a third, which is hybrid of the two. You can read the details of the implementation in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1551,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/22\/my-very-busy-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":1},"title":"My very busy week","author":"AllenDowney","date":"May 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure who scheduled ODSC and PyConUS during the same week, but I am unhappy with their decisions. Last Tuesday I presented a talk and co-presented a workshop at ODSC, and on Thursday I presented a tutorial at PyCon. If you would like to follow along with my very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bayesian statistics\"","block_context":{"text":"bayesian statistics","link":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/tag\/bayesian-statistics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/foMbacbuAQk\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/16\/foundations-of-data-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":2},"title":"Foundations of data science?","author":"AllenDowney","date":"May 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Foundation\" is one of several words I would like to ban from all discussion of higher education. \u00a0Others include \"liberal arts\", \"rigor\", and \"service class\", but I'll write about them another time. \u00a0Right now, \"foundation\" is on my mind because of a new book from Microsoft Research, Foundations of Data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"data science\"","block_context":{"text":"data science","link":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/tag\/data-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1704,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/09\/bayesian-decision-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":3},"title":"Bayesian Decision Analysis","author":"AllenDowney","date":"January 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"At PyData Global 2025 I presented a workshop on Bayesian Decision Analysis with PyMC. The video is available now. This workshop is based on the first session of the Applied Bayesian Modeling Workshop I teach along with my colleagues at PyMC Labs. If you would like to learn more, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bayesian statistics\"","block_context":{"text":"bayesian statistics","link":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/tag\/bayesian-statistics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/PLGVZCDnMOq0qmerwB1eITnr5AfYRGm0DF\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":609,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/07\/founded-upon-an-error\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":4},"title":"Founded Upon an Error","author":"AllenDowney","date":"May 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent post on Reddit asks, \"Why was Bayes' Theory not accepted\/popular historically until the late 20th century?\" Great question! As always, there are many answers to a question like this, and the good people of Reddit provide several. But the first and most popular answer is, in my humble\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bayesian\"","block_context":{"text":"bayesian","link":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/tag\/bayesian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":849,"url":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/28\/never-test-for-normality\/","url_meta":{"origin":308,"position":5},"title":"Never Test for Normality","author":"AllenDowney","date":"January 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Way back in 2013, I wrote this blog post explaining why you should never use a statistical test to check whether a sample came from a Gaussian distribution. I argued that data from the real world never come from a Gaussian distribution, or any other simple mathematical model, so the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/anderson1-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.allendowney.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}