Quote:
Originally Posted by jebartle
In other words, you can make numbers say anything you want!
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That is the abuse of statistics and data, and to some extent you are correct, but there are limits. But the "trick" with the data to information process is to simplify complex data down to its principle components. in predictive analytics its called principle component analysis, PCA, and with that the presentation can be intuitive between data and information. But the other side of the coin is that certain people want the different cuts or presentations of data. so one presentation doesn't answer all questions to all readers. so as my boss says, the right information at the right time to the right audience
However, with time series, or trending, such as by day, there is more randomness so averages are used, such as a 7 day average, or like in the stock market a 50 day moving average. Same concept.