A Startling Mistake

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Our theses are due in less than two weeks, but we feel that there is a far more urgent issue at hand: the statistical integrity of The Harvard Crimson.

We are both shocked and dismayed at the inaccuracy of the pictograph accompanying the page one story concerning the housing lottery. Though we are all social science majors, we know of no mathematical formula whereby 16 percent is represented by the same number of stars as 14 percent. However, this is precisely what occurred when The Crimson depicted those freshman indicating they would choose either Winthrop House or Adams House.

Moreover, there seems to be no consistently proportional relationship between the number of stars and the actual percentages indicated, according to our hastily asembled research staff.

Because a call to The Crimson yielded no results whatsoever, we felt compelled to publicly voice our concern.

Are Crimson writers exempt from the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement?

Please clarify these figures so we can once again devote our attention to more appropriate pursuits (theses). Kevin Boyle '85   Andrew Doctoroff '85   Clifford T. Russell '85