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The Weekend Hangover
Nobody picks a chart by accident. We walk through the choices behind one, from where the axis starts to which years quietly did not make it in.
What we covered
- Why the y axis almost never starts at zero, and when that is fair
- Percent change against a small base, the oldest trick there is
- Averages that hide the thing you actually wanted to know
- How to ask for the underlying table without sounding like a pest
Chapters
- 0:00 Cold open
- 5:05 Where the axis starts
- 17:30 Small base, big number
- 31:00 The average is hiding something
- 44:20 Ask for the table
- 1:18:00 Close
Corrections
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Transcript
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SelenaNobody picks a chart by accident.
DwightStart with where the axis starts. If it does not start at zero, ask why.
SelenaSometimes there is a good reason. A temperature chart starting at zero would be useless.
DwightAnd sometimes the reason is that the real change is two percent and two percent does not sell.
SelenaPercent change against a small base is the oldest trick there is.
DwightThree cases became six cases. That is a hundred percent increase and it is also three more cases.
SelenaAn average hides the thing you actually wanted to know.
DwightTwo people in a room, one with nothing and one with a million, have an average of five hundred thousand.
SelenaSo ask for the spread, not the middle.
DwightAnd ask for the underlying table. Most people will send it. It is not rude to ask.
SelenaIf they will not send it, that is an answer too.
DwightWednesday, the questions everybody is too embarrassed to ask.
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