Tukey Quotes & Sayings

The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data. — John Tukey

It's better to solve the right problem approximately than to solve the wrong problem exactly. — John Tukey

To be able to say that "if we change our point of view in the following way ... things are simpler" is always a gain. — John Tukey

In a world in which the price of calculation continues to decrease rapidly, but the price of theorem proving continues to hold steady or increase, elementary economics indicates that we ought to spend a larger and larger fraction of our time on calculation. — John Tukey

An approximate answer to the right problem is worth a good deal more than an exact answer to an approximate problem. — John Tukey

I mumbled something about how it was easy to calculate e to any power using that series (you just substitute the power for x). "Oh yeah?" they said, "Well, then, what's e to the 3.3?" said some joker - I think it was Tukey. I say, "That's easy. It's 27.11." Tukey knows it isn't so easy to compute all that in your head. "Hey! How'd you do that?" Another guy says, "You know Feynman, he's just faking it. It's not really right." They go to get a table, and while they're doing that, I put on a few more figures: "27.1126," I say. They find it in the table. "It's right! But how'd you do it!" "I just summed the series." "Nobody can sum the series that fast. You must just happen to know that one. How about e to the 3?" "Look," I say. "It's hard work! Only one a day!" "Hah! It's a fake!" they say, happily. "All right," I say, "It's 20.085. — Richard Feynman

All we know about the world teaches us that the effects of A and B are always different-in some decimal place-for any A and B. Thus asking "are the effects different?" is foolish. — John Tukey

This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization. — John Tukey

When communicating results to non-technical types there is nothing better than a clear visualization to make your point. — John Tukey

Be approximately right rather than exactly wrong. — John Tukey

The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard. — John Tukey

In a single sentence the moral is: admit that complexity always increases, first from the model you fit to the data, thence to the model you use to think about and plan about the experiment and its analysis, and thence to the true situation. — John Tukey

Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than the exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise. — John Tukey

I know of no person or group that is taking nearly adequate advantage of the graphical potentialities of the computer. — John Tukey

There is no data that can be displayed in a pie chart, that cannot be displayed BETTER in some other type of chart. — John Tukey

Visualization is often used for evil - twisting insignificant data changes and making them look meaningful. Don't do that crap if you want to be my friend. Present results clearly and honestly. If something isn't working - those reviewing results need to know. — John Tukey

If we are going to make a mark (key 21), it might as well be a meaningful one. — John Tukey