Quote:
Originally posted by ltl/fb
What, because there's a minimum number of idiots per state, like senators? Or there are states with fewer than 100,000 people?
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there aren't any states with fewer than 100,000 people - its just a commonly used statistical measure when discussing rates in states to get a more accurate comparision for things like crime rates, percentage of illiterate people, etc. the smallest state is wyoming which only has about 500,000 people. so if there are 5 idiots in wyoming, the rate of idiots would be 1 per 100,000. for each million people in a state, it takes 10 idiots to reach a rate of 1 idiot per 100,000. since texas has over 20,000,000 residents, it would take 200 idiots just to reach a rate of 1 idiot per 100,000 people. thus to have an equal percentage of idiots, texas requires approximately 40 times more idiots than wyoming.
i don't think there is any minimum number of idiots per state - the question would be whether there are concentrations of idiots. however, in order to show a concentration of idiots, you must account for population. thus although there are many more reports of idiots (e.g. from darwin award winners, america's dumbest criminals, newspaper reports, etc.) from populous states it could simply reflect the higher population, rather than a concentration of idiots. if there is a concentration of idiots within a state, larger states are likely to balance it out with areas that are not as full of idiots. the introduction of the number of idiots per 100,000 rate would simply be an attempt to reach a true idiot rate rather than the number of idiots reported in the media.
