Word: branches
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...polling methods have advanced, the press has gradually elevated pollsters to the status of prophets. And journalists sometimes forget that their prophecies come not from the heavens but from a branch of mathematics called probability theory, whose most obvious application is to gambling. The concepts are commonly introduced in statistic classes with reference to coin tosses and dice. It is hardly an exact science. Roughly one time out of 20 the typical pollster's finding will fall outside the stated margin of error. And even that assumes a flawless sample that will be exactly representative of the whole population...
...souped-up performance of GM's European branch offers a jarring contrast to the declining horsepower of the parent company in the U.S. While the European side has been earning a profit of $1,200 a car, the North American automaking operations are now losing money, analysts say. And while GM Europe boosted its market share from 8.4% in 1980 to 11% last year, the domestic company's portion of the U.S. car market fell from 46% to 35% during the same period. Why the sharp disparity in performance? A close look reveals that the two sides...
...past, Congress is likely to take the latter course, joining the Executive Branch in dodging its fiscal responsibility. This year the economy's weakness may provide the excuse for postponing action on the deficit, since spending cuts could aggravate the slowdown. Unfortunately, a decade of annual budget deficits of more than $100 billion has shifted the burden of controlling the economy almost completely to the Federal Reserve Board. "The problem is that we have only monetary policy to rely on," says Lyle Gramley, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association and a former Fed governor. "It would be wonderful...
...September a Parisian computer creatively misread magnetic labels on 41,000 traffic-violation files and began charging delinquent motorists with crimes ranging from murder and drug trafficking to prostitution. A fire in a Tokyo utility tunnel several years ago wiped out circuits connecting Mitsubishi Bank's mainframe computers with branch offices, shutting down automated-teller machines across the country for five days...
...Seattle Public Library runs an after-school program complete with tutors who help with homework. San Francisco, with its multilingual population, offers a computerized card catalog in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Vietnamese. Some libraries provide boxes of discount coupons for grocery shoppers and one-day passes to museums; a branch in Chicago even lends ladders and household tools...