Re: Olympic data

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

At 07:25 AM 8/24/2004, you wrote:
> Athletes are often ranked on the basis of experimental measurements of
> time intervals. My impression is that differences between some outcomes
> are too small to be meaningful.
> Ludwik Kowalski

In order to dish out medals, it is necessary to answer the questions,
Who made the shortest time, the highest jump, the longest distance,
got the most points?

A photo finish could resolve those questions that were not obvious,
I expect.

But then, there's the spectator question,
Was this a World record? A tape measure or time measurement
often gets to resolve this question.   I believe it is rare to find that
experimental error is close to the magnitude of the differences
sought in this respect.

Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!