Thanks to Michael Edmiston for starting this thread. I have routinely
asked students to do the calculation both ways - "average earlier or
average later" - and to then compare. What they usually find is similar
to what his student found - within the uncertainties, the two methods
are not distinguishable. If they still want to know which is "the right
answer" I ask how they might decide between the two - with the usually
teased out answer to "get more data."
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"I never think of the future.
It comes soon enough"
-Albert Einstein
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Dr. George Spagna
Chair, Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505