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Points of significance

Errors in predictor variables

Nature Methods volume 21, pages 4–6 (2024)Cite this article

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision that the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. —Aristotle

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Fig. 1: Noise in the predictor variable generally reduces the magnitude of the slope estimate in simple linear regression.
Fig. 2: Slope attenuation bias correction using replicates of W.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge David Ruppert (Cornell University) for contributions to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA

    Naomi Altman

  2. Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Martin Krzywinski

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  1. Naomi Altman
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  2. Martin Krzywinski
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Correspondence to Martin Krzywinski.

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Altman, N., Krzywinski, M. Errors in predictor variables. Nat Methods 21, 4–6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-02119-z

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