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Simpson's paradox
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===Batting averages=== A common example of Simpson's paradox involves the [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]]s of players in [[professional baseball]]. It is possible for one player to have a higher batting average than another player each year for a number of years, but to have a lower batting average across all of those years. This phenomenon can occur when there are large differences in the number of [[at bat]]s between the years. Mathematician [[Kenneth A. Ross|Ken Ross]] demonstrated this using the batting average of two baseball players, [[Derek Jeter]] and [[David Justice]], during the years 1995 and 1996:<ref name="RossBaseball">Ken Ross. "''A Mathematician at the Ballpark: Odds and Probabilities for Baseball Fans (Paperback)''" Pi Press, 2004. {{isbn|0-13-147990-3}}. 12β13</ref><ref>Statistics available from [[Baseball-Reference.com]]: [https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jeterde01.shtml Data for Derek Jeter]; [https://www.baseball-reference.com/j/justida01.shtml Data for David Justice].</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; border:none;" |- ! {{diagonal split header|Batter |Year}} ! colspan="2" | 1995 ! colspan="2" | 1996 ! colspan="2" | Combined |- | Derek Jeter | 12/48 | .250 | 183/582 | .314 | 195/630 | '''.310''' |- | David Justice | 104/411 | '''.253''' | 45/140 | '''.321''' | 149/551 | .270 |} In both 1995 and 1996, Justice had a higher batting average (in bold type) than Jeter did. However, when the two baseball seasons are combined, Jeter shows a higher batting average than Justice. According to Ross, this phenomenon would be observed about once per year among the possible pairs of players.<ref name="RossBaseball"/>
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