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A lot of life comes down to figuring things
out. It's what humans do, improving and tweaking

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things to make them better.

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If we're baking a birthday cake, we often
use the recipe as the base, and add our own

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flair. We might add extra vanilla to make
the vanilla cream more vanilla-y.

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If we're trying to figure out how much gas
it takes to get from Tallahassee to Toledo,

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we consider our known variables, speed, weight
of vehicle, weather, and driving style. I'm

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talking to you, Mr. Leadfoot.

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And if we want to to win the world's biggest
tomato contest, it might take us years to

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discover the perfect balance of sun, water,
fertilizer, and shh, our super-secret plant

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food.

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The problem is experimentation by changing
one thing at a time is not efficient.

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Trial and error is a real trial, and then
an error, and then another trial, and another

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error, and, well, you get the point.

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Luckily, there's a different approach that
is applicable to any system in life where

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measuring and optimizing something is required.

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It's efficient, it's scientific, and it works.

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It uses statistics.

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Wait, wait, wait.

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Don't go yet.

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We use statistics to find the best answer
in the least amount of time using the fewest

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number of experiments.

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It allows you to figure things out in faster
and better ways. For example, what's the recipe

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that could pop the most perfect popcorn?

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McMaster University is offering this course,
Experimentation for (Process) Improvement.

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We'll teach you the way to figure things out,
which could make you stand out at work, help

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you optimize your business, or let you land
that big promotion.

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It's taught by me, Kevin Dunn, of McMaster
University in Hamilton, Canada.

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Sign up now for the course, Experimentation
for (Process) Improvement at Coursera.org.