Marilyn admits that she made a mistake

Marilyn is Wrong Copyright © 1995-1998 Herb Weiner. All rights reserved.

Ask Marilyn ® by Marilyn vos Savant is a column in Parade Magazine, published by PARADE, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. According to Parade, Marilyn vos Savant is listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame" for "Highest IQ."

In her Parade Magazine column of December 24, 1989, Marilyn admitted that she was mistaken when she reported that "two automobiles crashing head-on at 50 miles per hour each was equal in severity to one car crashing at 100 miles per hour into a stone wall."

Thank you, Marilyn

I'm pleased to know that you're willing to admit that you're wrong once you understand your error. Now, if only I could convince you of your error in the other examples I've cited.

GE Wagner <gwagner@att.net> wrote that

A stone wall is not an immovable object, and that hitting a stone wall at 50 miles per hour will do some damage to the wall thus decreasing the damage to the car that hits it. By the way, if you let me build the wall, I'd be happy to run a car through it.

Further Explanations

GAC Philippe <phg@club-internet.fr> suggested some further clarifications:
http://www.wiskit.com/marilyn/mistake.html last updated June 30, 1998 by herbw@wiskit.com