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From: jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: metrics and the SAT example
Message-ID: <1991May25.053304.10445@netcom.COM>
Date: 25 May 91 05:33:04 GMT
References: <24563@unix.SRI.COM> <1991May21.223401.27023@netcom.COM> <1991May22.222646.10571@ico.isc.com> <1991May23.014904.5896@netcom.COM> <1991May24.192101.22317@grep.co.uk>
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>It must be possible to establish credible causality too, otherwise you can't
>be sure what you're measuring.  Say you notice that levels of ice-cream 
>consumption correlate strongly with deaths at the beach.  Does this mean
>ice-cream is a killer?

Not at all. But it DOES mean ice-cream is a good predictor for beach-deaths,
which was precisely my point. Thanks for providing another example to support
my thesis! :-)

>>My father pointed out one time
>>that the statement "it only provides symptomatic relief" was stupid: if
>>the symptoms of a broken arm are pain, bone jutting from muscle, and an
>>inability to lift objects with the arm, then relieving those symptoms
>>is the same as curing the problem--so what's the objection?

>I take it your father wasn't a doctor, then? :-)  Taking Tylenol whenever
>you have a headache doesn't cure your brain tumour.

My dad was only pointing it out for broken arms. It doesn't work for
everything.
-- 
**************** JIM SHOWALTER, jls@netcom.com, (408) 243-0630 ****************
*Proven solutions to software problems. Consulting and training on all aspects*
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