The Scientific Fundamentalist

A look at the hard truths about human nature.

by Satoshi Kanazawa

Fun with Binomial Distributions

Are blue eyes attractive?

Published on March 10, 2011 by Satoshi Kanazawa in The Scientific Fundamentalist

(from L to R) Portia Doubleday, Nate Torrence, Allison Janney, Matthew Perry, James Lesure, and Andrea Anders

On the new ABC sitcom Mr. Sunshine (a new Thomas Schlamme vehicle without Aaron Sorkin), all five Caucasian lead actors (Matthew Perry, Allison Janney, Andrea Anders, Portia Doubleday, and Nate Torrence) have piercing blue eyes.

Given that, according to Add Health, only 24.7% of Caucasian Americans have blue eyes, the exact binomial probability that this can happen by chance is .000919, less than one in a thousand. Just saying.

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Tags: aaron sorkin, abc, actors, add health, allison janney, american broadcasting corporation, andrea anders, binomial distribution, blue eyes, doubleday, health, matthew perry, mr sunshine, mr. sunshine, nate torrence, national longitudinal study of adolescent health, nbsp, portia, portia doubleday, probability, thomas schlamme

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Satoshi Kanazawa is an evolutionary psychologist at LSE and the coauthor (with the late Alan S. Miller) of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters.

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