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An approximate answer to the right problem is worth a good deal more than an exact answer to an approximate problem.

John Tukey

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John Tukey
Age: 85 †
Born: 1915
Born: June 16
Died: 2000
Died: July 26
Chemist
Computer Scientist
Politician
Statistician
University Teacher
New Bedford
Massachusetts
John Wilder Tukey
John W. Tukey
John W Tukey
Deal
Worth
Deals
Approximate
Answers
Statistician
Science
Exact
Problem
Statistics
Right
Data
Good
Answer

More quotes by John Tukey

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Visualization is often used for evil - twisting insignificant data changes and making them look meaningful. Don't do that crap if you want to be my friend. Present results clearly and honestly. If something isn't working - those reviewing results need to know.
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The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.
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To be able to say that if we change our point of view in the following way ... things are simpler is always a gain.
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I know of no person or group that is taking nearly adequate advantage of the graphical potentialities of the computer.
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Be approximately right rather than exactly wrong.
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It's better to solve the right problem approximately than to solve the wrong problem exactly.
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In a world in which the price of calculation continues to decrease rapidly, but the price of theorem proving continues to hold steady or increase, elementary economics indicates that we ought to spend a larger and larger fraction of our time on calculation.
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This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization.
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Numerical quantities focus on expected values, graphical summaries on unexpected values.
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When communicating results to non-technical types there is nothing better than a clear visualization to make your point.
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