zero degrees of freedom

dear friends,

i would like to take this opportunity to semi-publicly apologize to mr. brennan, mr. moran, ms. wojda, and ms. wojda again for not paying attention to their math classes in grade nine through twelve inclusive. why didn't anyone tell me that matrix algebra was going to be relevant to me getting a ph d in sociology.

my most recent stats assignment consumed several intense hours of my life, and inspired the following nerd-a-rific sayings/msn names/msn conversations:

- i have zero degrees of freedom!
- the z score of fuck! [note that this can be adapted to an test statistic you enjoy... the t-test of fuck! the t-score of fuck!]

in particular the latter was said in the same spirit as "fuck the duck"... but i can envision its expansion to "omigod i am the z-score of fucked", as a response to "how is the stats assignment going?"

all in all, i am the little engine that could about the whole stats thing. i think i can.

yours in the name of all that is sociological [and perhaps mathematical too],
cam