The story is epistolary in nature, taking the form of a scientist's journal entry. The scientist is a member of a race of air-driven mechanical beings. The race obtains air from swappable lungs filled with pressurized air (argon) from underground. When it is realized that a number of clocks simultaneously appear to be running fast but they do not appear to be malfunctioning, the narrator decides to explore the explanation that people's brains are computing slower. The scientist dissects their own brain and discovers that it operates based on the movement of air through gold leaves. The scientist hypothesizes that others' brains are computing slower because rising atmospheric pressure causes air to pass through the leaves at a slower rate, and that the subterranean supply of argon will eventually be depleted, equalizing the pressure between the two atmospheres.
<h3><u><em>Perhaps the most common goal in statistics is to answer the question: Is the variable X (or more likely, X 1 , ... , X p ) associated with a variable Y, and, if so, what is the relationship and can we use it to predict Y?
</em></u></h3>
<em></em>
<h3><em>Nowhere is the nexus between statistics and data science stronger than in the realm of prediction—specifically the prediction of an outcome (target) variable based on the values of other “predictor” variables. Another important connection is in the area of anomaly detection, where regression diagnostics originally intended for data analysis and improving the regression model can be used to detect unusual records. The antecedents of correlation and linear regression date back over a century.</em></h3>
