Talk:Outlier

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[edit] Renee Masse

What's a Renee Masse? (In the first sentence).

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.70.147 (talk) 15:04, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Adopted orphan redirects for Google: inner fence, outer fence, mild outlier, Extreme outlier

In sans-serif font, 1.5 IQR looks like a division. Patrick 11:15 Dec 23, 2002 (UTC)

I did it that way so I wouldn't have to use * or x or × for multiplication. What would you prefer? dcljr 13:53 Dec 23, 2002 (UTC)

When using multi-letter variables a multiplication sign avoids ambiguity, and in this case coincidentally there was even a little more ambiguity.

Any of the three is fine with me, × is neatest, but more cumbersome to write. - Patrick 14:26 Dec 23, 2002 (UTC)

[edit] more

more info but clearer answers i don't get a thing and my exam is tommorrow!!!!

[edit] Outliers as 2 s.d.s away from men

Is there not a second defintion of outliers, as lying more than two standard deviations away from the mean? Or am I mixing other things up? I am a physicist, and it is a long time since I did "real" statistics... Batmanand | Talk 09:48, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

This is a poor definition of outliers as it changes upon recursion, i.e. the standard deviation is highly dependent on the outliers. Check boxplot for a simple but easy to understand definition that is not distribution dependent.

[edit] Boats

Isn't an outlier (German: Ausleger, Swedish: utliggare) also a supporting 2nd keel for a canoe or sailing boat that makes it almost a catamaran? Hmm... apparently this is called a outrigger on an outrigger canoe in English. Other languages would use "rig" for things that have sails. --LA2 23:04, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

-No, Ausleger is not outlier, that's a false friend. Outrigger, as you say, is the right term. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.70.147 (talk) 15:07, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Definition

I'm opposed to the "Mathematical definition" section in the article. Determining whether an observation is an outlier is ultimately a subjective decision, and any definition based on measures such as standard deviation or interquartile range is completely arbitrary.

If this section need be kept, perhaps it could be renamed? The term "mathematical" implies a logical certainty, which doesn't apply in this case. -3mta3 (talk) 11:49, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Methods for identifying outliers

I want to know what is the source of the method of using the Interquantile range mentioned in the text?? Is it just a rule of thumb, or does it have a more objective explanation?--Forich (talk) 21:33, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

It is a popular method, known as "Interquartile range" (IQR), where k = 3 is suposed to identify extreme outliers, and k = 1.5 mild outliers. This method has no scientific basis; it belongs to the category of Mumbo Jumbo methods in statistics.  --Lambiam 04:51, 10 June 2008 (UTC)