Hodges' Model: Welcome to the QUAD: distribution

Hodges' model is a conceptual framework to support reflection and critical thinking. Situated, the model can help integrate all disciplines (academic and professional). Amid news items, are posts that illustrate the scope and application of the model. A bibliography and A4 template are provided in the sidebar. Welcome to the QUAD ...

Showing posts with label distribution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label distribution. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Total eclipse: The terminator moves faster than you think

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL
: SCIENCES             
humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   
|
group

Between the new and full moon the terminator - the line demarcating what is lit from what is dark changes all the time. This is imperceptible with the naked eye.

A telescope at low magnification reveals the moon in all its glory. At a higher power with manual control you have to keep moving to keep up, as the moon other-worldly slides out of view.

What of the terminator between poverty and wealth; ultrapoverty and ultrawealthy?

It is plain to see and so - easy to deny; but their instruments are hopeless, they watch indoors, fixed on their screens.


Total Solar Eclipse – August 12, 2026

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(solar) 

Previously: 'terminator' 

Saturday, April 18, 2026

'Our broken sticks' c/o Roger Lewin "Complexity: life at the edge of chaos"

Chapter 4 Explosions and Extinctions

  'Is Stu being led astray? I asked. "There's something called the broken stick model in statistics," said Dave. In this trick, a random number generator "breaks'' a stick a hundred inches long at twenty-five points, and produces twenty-six short sticks. Measure them, count the number that are one inch long, the number two inches long, and so on, and draw a histogram. You get a skewed distribution, toward the short end, just like many natural phenomena, including the distribution of sizes of U.S. cities, for instance. "One thing you have to remember about extinctions is that some species are more likely than others to die out, just because they exist as small, isolated populations,'' explained Dave. "This sort of statistical quirk can skew your results, easily." So, you would be suspicious of anything that looks like a power law? "I would, because it's common, just in the nature of statistics. It may tell you that a system is poised at a critical point, whatever that means, but it may not. In any case, when Stu says that the curve he gets from my data is close to a power law, he knows that there are many other mathematical models that could fit equally well."
  Clearly, there were many reasons to be cautious about drawing the conclusion that global ecosystems are poised at the edge of chaos, using just the extinction data.' p.80.
 
Hodges' model: Axes (structure) and Domains (content)

If we take the axes of Hodges' model, and break them at twenty-five points, I wonder what we end-up (or start) with?
 
Lewin, Roger. (1993) Complexity: life at the edge of chaos. London : Phoenix [Dent, 1993] ISBN: 1857990285.

Previously: 'complexity' : 'system'