more info madness [re statistics]

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/12/2008 12:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>In case anybody cares, the Allukian-Atwood article I just cited also
>claims (p. 331) that an American soldier in Vietnam (1965-1973) had
>an 8.5% chance of being killed in action. Source? A 1973 article in
>_Nutrition Today_.
>
>According to J. F. Dunnigan & A. Nofi's sensationally-titled but
>extensively researched _Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War_
>(N.Y.: St. Martin's, 1999), p. 242, the figure was 1.8%. Source?
>Some government document.
>
>Hey, they want to sell books! Who cares how they know?

And who cares how they misuse statistics?  Is that in one year, for
any individual soldier, or over the entire war, for all
soldiers?  (Is the 8.5% for the entire war, and the 1.8% for one year?)

Joel

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