14.46 Google, the flu, and third variables: The New York Times reported: “Several years ago, Google, aware of how many of us were sneezing and coughing, created a fancy equation on its Web site to figure out just how many people had influenza. The math works like this: people’s location + flu-related search queries on Google + some really smart algorithms = the number of people with the flu in the United States” (Bilton, 2013).

a. A friend who knows you’re taking statistics asks you to explain what this means in statistical terms. In your own words, what is it likely that the Google statisticians did?

b. The problem was that Google’s “fancy equation” didn’t work. It estimated that 11% of the U.S. population had the flu, but the real number was only 6%. The New York Times article warned against taking data out of context. What do you think may have gone wrong in this case? (Hint: Think about your own Google searches and the varied reasons you have for conducting those searches.)