In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person will go to a movie in the next week. But someone who knows that this person is laid up with a broken leg will beat the formula. No formula can take into account the infinite range of such exceptional events.


Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science (ed. Profile Books, 2010) - ISBN: 9781847651242

Atul Gawande Quotes

In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person...

In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person...

In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person...

In psychology, there's something called the broken-leg problem. A statistical formula may be highly successful in predicting whether or not a person...