Intelligent social signaling is another possible explanation. He’s 16, after all. On the other hand, anyone who’s giving out or requesting confidence intervals at age 16 is probably not too concerned with social signalling, or else is really bad at it.
It’s a perfect social signal. It’s costly in that it shows his nerdiness to everyone, but the actual level of nerdiness is impressive to everyone who values nerdiness.
Intelligent social signaling is another possible explanation. He’s 16, after all. On the other hand, anyone who’s giving out or requesting confidence intervals at age 16 is probably not too concerned with social signalling, or else is really bad at it.
It’s a perfect social signal. It’s costly in that it shows his nerdiness to everyone, but the actual level of nerdiness is impressive to everyone who values nerdiness.