"The Drunken Mans Lamp Post" - why stats are not optional for mineral engineers (or anyone else for that matter) Presented by: Emeritus Professor Tim Napier-Munn
Mineral engineers (metallurgists) use statistical method less than almost any other numerate profession. In other lines of professional work (eg psychology, drug development, production engineering) stats is embedded in the DNA and is uncontroversial. But mineral engineers still seem (with some honourable exceptions) to resort to stats as a last resort when all other methods have failed. This has to change if our concentrators are to be designed and operated optimally.
In this gentle webinar we will use simple examples to show that uncertainty infests all the data which is the daily meat and drink of the mineral engineer, and that this uncertainty leads directly to risk in decision-making (which can be career-limiting). It is the job of stats to measure and manage that uncertainty. All you need is Excel and an enquiring mind.
The three main take-aways will be:
1. ALL data has uncertainty.
2. Humans are BAD at interpreting data and judging risk intuitively.
3. Stats has solutions for ALL these problems.
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