Scientists on a Photo-Safari
Published on Mon 18 October 1999
A biologist, a statistician, a mathematician and a computer scientist are on a photo-safari in Africa. They drive out on the savanna in their jeep, stop and scout the horizon with their binoculars.
The biologist: "Look! There is a herd of zebras! And there, in the middle, a white zebra! It is fantastic! There are white zebras! We will be famous!"
The statistician: "It is not significant. We only know there is one white zebra."
The mathematician: "Actually, we only know there exists a zebra, which is white on one side."
The computer scientist: "Oh, no! A special case!"