ShardPhoenix comments on Negative and Positive Selection - Less Wrong

71 Post author: alyssavance 06 July 2012 01:34AM

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Comment author: ShardPhoenix 06 July 2012 03:33:53AM *  1 point [-]

The thing that wasn't replicated was their attempt at a predictive test of the distribution (based on a particular explanation they thought applied), not the existence of the distribution itself, which is something that was observed in grade patterns in CS compared to other subjects (though I don't know how rigorously established it is).

Comment author: gwern 06 July 2012 03:43:02AM 1 point [-]

Isn't the predictive part the interesting thing? I wasn't aware that bimodal grade distributions were unique to CS.

Comment author: ShardPhoenix 06 July 2012 05:15:00AM 0 points [-]

Well, their original paper claimed that (eg) math grades are typically a bell curve, whereas CS grades are typically bimodal (with examples from one university). But again, I'm not sure if this is something that's been rigorously demonstrated.