An old friend that teaches at a top-25 business school was expressing some dismay that some undergraduates do not grasp how profoundly statistics presented in class will influence their life. Those that fail to be mindful of the principles are at a serious disadvantage. Now, one could harp about slot machines or scratch-off lottery tickets, but since these writings are engineering-career focused, I’ll present several specific examples of how overlooking statistics can bite one in a work setting like an engineering consulting firm.

Tools for estimating geothermal project output (GeothermEx)

Three common situations we’ll discuss are:

  1. Proposals and expected value
  2. Capacity factor
  3. Instrumentation uncertainty, design margins and analysis
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