[wonderlust]

Had an indergrad ecology course to teach me this. The first 4 labs were plug and chug equations sampling a square with computer generated randomly placed dots. All we had to do is get a sample (we could choose the size), and figure out a 95% likelihood that the correct number was within our range. No one could do it for 3 labs, before he told us how. Good samples are REALLY important, even under basically perfect conditions.