Results for AST 101, Spring 2007:
| T | M | A | F | C | J | Q | Z | D | N | K | E | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Taurus | Gemini | Cancer | Leo | Virgo | Libra | Scorpio | Sagittarius | Capricorn | Aquarius | Pisces | |||
| True Sun Sign: | Successes | |||||||||||||
| Aries | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/7 | |
| Taurus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/7 | |
| Gemini | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1/5 | |
| Cancer | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4/11 | |
| Leo | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1/4 | |
| Virgo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2/5 | |
| Libra | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/4 | |
| Scorpio | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/7 | |
| Sagittarius | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0/10 | |
| Capricorn | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1/5 | |
| Aquarius | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/2 | |
| Pisces | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/6 |
This grid shows which sign people picked as a function of their true Sun sign.
The distribution of values is a close to a Poisson distribution,
as expected if the answers were selected by chance. There were 73
responses.
There have been 11 correct selections. We would have expected 6 by chance alone, because random guessing will be correct in 1 of every 12 cases. The likelihood of getting 11 or more correct by chance is 4%. This is not statistically significant.
These are the summed results from 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, and an Astronomy Open Night
| T | M | A | F | C | J | Q | Z | D | N | K | E | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Taurus | Gemini | Cancer | Leo | Virgo | Libra | Scorpio | Sagittarius | Capricorn | Aquarius | Pisces | |||
| True Sun Sign: | Successes | |||||||||||||
| Aries | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7/46 | |
| Taurus | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5/39 | |
| Gemini | 4 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 9/55 | |
| Cancer | 1 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14/60 | |
| Leo | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 10/56 | |
| Virgo | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 16/52 | |
| Libra | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10/49 | |
| Scorpio | 6 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7/52 | |
| Sagittarius | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 6/67 | |
| Capricorn | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2/29 | |
| Aquarius | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2/37 | |
| Pisces | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6/42 |
This grid shows which sign people picked as a function of their true Sun sign.
The distribution of values is a close to a Poisson distribution,
as expected if the answers were selected by chance. There have been 584
responses.
There have been 93 correct selections. We would have expected 49 by chance alone, because random guessing will be correct in 1 of every 12 cases. The likelihood of getting 93 or more correct by chance is 10-9. This is statistically significant.
Nonetheless, one can ask: Is sun sign astrology predictive?
Disclaimer: The descriptions of the Sun sign were from taken from http://www.astrology.net, and have been edited for brevity and to remove obvious key words that might give away the signs. Nonetheless, persons who regularly read horoscopes will be able to recognize the descriptions, and will have a significantly better than random chance of selecting their sun sign.