Way back when I was in college, there was only one other English-speaking math major in my cohort. He was quite a smart alec. One time, we were talking about economics, and Daniel said, “You could ask twenty economists a question, and they’d all give a different answer.” I replied, “You can say the same about mathematicians.” He added the obvious, “Yeah, but only one of them could be right.”

I tell that tale because two of today’s stories indicate some people still believe that math gives accurate results, even if the data is wrong, or the processor is using flawed logic. The third story deals with English and ever-migrating definitions that would insult the character-challenged.