The question posed by Michael Edmiston is one that I have occasionally, but
not often enough, had raised by a student. (We do use Excel to analyze and
graph the lab data in our physics labs.) Apart from a discussion of sources
of noise, which at the general physics level is usually assumed to be
gaussian, the critical thing is how our variables are related. In general,
only if the observed variable and the calculated variable are linear
functions of each other will the average of the observations give the same
spread and average as the average of the calculated variables.
Thus I have the students do the calculations first and then average the
results.
Richard L. Bowman
Dept. of Physics
Bridgewater College
Bridgewater, VA, USA 22812
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