Fruit for thought on tooth decay. Fruit for thought on tooth decay.
This article and Smokers alerted to dental dangers point to the issue of the many factors which may affect a particular outcome, in this case problems with teeth. The claim for fruit is
Pr (tooth decay | eat "lots of fruit regularly") = 2 Pr (tooth decay | eat "not as much fruit").
[Here Pr (A | B) is the probability of event A occurring given the occurrence of event B.]
One could also interpret the quote in the second paragraph study as implying a regression study which might be represented by a scattergram. On one axis a measure of fruit consumption would be represented while on the other a measure of tooth decay would be given. Students might like to draw what a scattergram representing the suggested relationship would look like:
Questions concerning the definition of terms are definitely in order. Also in a real-world setting one would have to consider the other relative benefits of eating fruit.
Where to next?
Student Questions for this article
Newspaper article
Index - Chance and Basic Probability
