A tendency to drastically underestimate the frequency of coincidences is a prime characteristic of innumerates, who generally accord great significance to correspondences of all sorts while attributing too little significance to quite conclusive but less flashy statistical evidence.

— John Allen Paulos Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

More quotes by John Allen Paulos

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences (1988)

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper (1995)

Mathematics and Humor: A Study of the Logic of Humor (1980)

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