[zeestephen]

Re: “Sowell notes that if five prerequisites are needed for success in a particular field, and if the chances are two out of three that any person will have each characteristic, the chance of possessing all five characteristics are still only one in eight...”

Is this “new” math, or am I just really dumb?

If "two out of three" people have all five characteristics, why is “the chance of possessing all five characteristics” just one in eight?

[BradyLS]

I’d say that your source referencing Sowell is in error.

[steve86]

The review or whatever it is above isn't worded correctly. It should have been:

"When the chances of an individual having any one of the five characteristics is two out of three...(in the applicable distribution)...then the chances of having all five is two-thirds raised to the fifth power or about one in eight".

[dsc]

” if the chances are two out of three that any person will have each characteristic”

I think he meant to say “if the chances are two out of three that any person will have any one of these characteristics...”