resources
visualizations
presentations
lunch break
Distractions and amusements, with a sandwich and coffee.
visualization + design
The art of Pi (`\pi`), Phi (`\phi`) and `e`
This section contains various art work based on `\pi`, `\phi` and `e` that I created over the years.
Some of the numerical art reveals interesting and unexpected observations. For example, the sequence 999999 in π at digit 762 called the Feynman Point. Or that if you calculate π to 13,099,586 digits you will find love.
`\pi` day art and `\pi` approximation day art is kept separate.
For some time I have been thinking about creating minimalist typographical art based on the digits of `\pi`. The `i`-ness `\pi` project was one of my first forays into this kind of art.
the `i`-ness of `\pi`
In the `i`-ness of `\pi` poster shown above, the average is mapped onto a color and the standard deviation onto size.
the `i`-ness of `\phi` and `e`
Compare the `i`-ness of `\pi` to that of the other famous transcendental number, `e`, and the mysterious but attractive Golden Ratio, `phi`.
the 4-ness of `\pi`
These posters show the difference between each digit and 4,
Spring and fall color themes of the posters are also available.
curiously humorous variant
I assure you—`\pi` has a lot of 4s. Why, in the first 19,528 digits there are 2,000 of them! That's a lot. Here they are.
If you stare at them long enough, they even appear to move. Amazing.
news + thoughts
What's wrong with pie charts?
In this redesign of a pie chart figure from a Nature Medicine article [1], I look at how to organize and present a large number of categories.
I first discuss some of the benefits of a pie chart—there are few and specific—and its shortcomings—there are few but fundamental.
I then walk through the redesign process by showing how the tumor categories can be shown more clearly if they are first aggregated into a small number groups.
(bottom left) Figure 2b from Zehir et al. Mutational landscape of metastatic cancer revealed from prospective clinical sequencing of 10,000 patients. (2017) Nature Medicine doi:10.1038/nm.4333
Tabular Data
Tabulating the number of objects in categories of interest dates back to the earliest records of commerce and population censuses.After 30 columns, this is our first one without a single figure. Sometimes a table is all you need.
In this column, we discuss nominal categorical data, in which data points are assigned to categories in which there is no implied order. We introduce one-way and two-way tables and the `\chi^2` and Fisher's exact tests.
Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2017) Points of Significance: Tabular data. Nature Methods 14:329–330.
Happy 2017 `\pi` Day—Star Charts, Creatures Once Living and a Poem
on a brim of echo,
capsized chamber
drawn into our constellation, and cooling.
—Paolo Marcazzan
Celebrate `\pi` Day (March 14th) with star chart of the digits. The charts draw 40,000 stars generated from the first 12 million digits.
The 80 constellations are extinct animals and plants. Here you'll find old friends and new stories. Read about how Desmodus is always trying to escape or how Megalodon terrorizes the poor Tecopa! Most constellations have a story.
This year I collaborate with Paolo Marcazzan, a Canadian poet, who contributes a poem, Of Black Body, about space and things we might find and lose there.
Check out art from previous years: 2013 `\pi` Day and 2014 `\pi` Day, 2015 `\pi` Day and and 2016 `\pi` Day.
Data in New Dimensions: convergence of art, genomics and bioinformatics
Art is science in love.
— E.F. Weisslitz
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of our stereoscopic images which were at display at the AGBT 2017 Conference in February. The art is a creative collaboration with Becton Dickinson and The Linus Group.
Its creation began with the concept of differences and my writeup of the creative and design process focuses on storytelling and how concept of differences is incorporated into the art.
Oh, and this might be a good time to pick up some red-blue 3D glasses.
Interpreting P values
A P value measures a sample’s compatibility with a hypothesis, not the truth of the hypothesis.This month we continue our discussion about `P` values and focus on the fact that `P` value is a probability statement about the observed sample in the context of a hypothesis, not about the hypothesis being tested.
Given that we are always interested in making inferences about hypotheses, we discuss how `P` values can be used to do this by way of the Benjamin-Berger bound, `\bar{B}` on the Bayes factor, `B`.
Heuristics such as these are valuable in helping to interpret `P` values, though we stress that `P` values vary from sample to sample and hence many sources of evidence need to be examined before drawing scientific conclusions.
Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. (2017) Points of Significance: Interpreting P values. Nature Methods 14:213–214.
Background reading
Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2017) Points of significance: P values and the search for significance. Nature Methods 14:3–4.
Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. (2013) Points of significance: Significance, P values and t–tests. Nature Methods 10:1041–1042.
Snellen Charts—Typography to Really Look at
Another collection of typographical posters. These ones really ask you to look.
The charts show a variety of interesting symbols and operators found in science and math. The design is in the style of a Snellen chart and typset with the Rockwell font.