Re: The Other Lane

2002-09-02 Thread AdmrlLocke 


In a message dated 9/2/02 12:07:20 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

<< Howdy,

Why does it seem like the other lane in heavy traffic
is always going faster?  Depends on who you ask. 
Here's two contradictory answers with explanations. >>

I've always though it's a perception problem:  I think about which lane is 
going faster in a memorable way only when I'm angry that it's not my lane.

That reminds me of something I said to a girlfriend of mine back in my 
undergraduate days.  She angrily rifled around her dorm room looking for her 
keys, and when she found it (rhetorically) demanded to know why it's always 
in the last place she looked.  I replied that it's because when we find it we 
stop looking.  

David

RE: The Other Lane

2002-09-02 Thread Michael Etchison 

The other lane is in fact going faster -- unless I'm in it, in which
case it is going slower.  When there is but a single lane, it goes
slower when I am in it, and speeds up as soon as I'm gone.

Michael

The Other Lane

2002-09-02 Thread john hull 

Howdy,

Why does it seem like the other lane in heavy traffic
is always going faster?  Depends on who you ask. 
Here's two contradictory answers with explanations.

www.stat.duke.edu/chance/133.redelmeier.pdf
plus.maths.org/issue17/features/traffic/index.html

The first, by Redelmeier and Tibshirani, says it's an
illusion.  Put simplistically, one perceives the other
lane as moving faster, even when it is in fact going
slower, because during the times when it makes gains
one spends more time being overtaken than when passing
since passing cars are more spread out.  They
conducted experiments to back this up.

On the other hand, Nick Bostrom says it really is
going faster.  He asserts that Redelmeier and
Tibshirani are falling prey to the observation
selection effect.  Put simlistically, since passing
cars are less densly packed than those being passed,
any randomly chosen vehicle is most likley a vehicle
being passed.  Therefore, the other lane is moving
faster.

I hope you find these articles interesting,
jsh

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