Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] calibration

On Aug 7, 2007, at 9:18 PM, Al Bachman wrote:
2. The validity of a straight line fit is based on how well the data actually fit the straight
line. If the data are too sparse then the straight line fit may inspire little confidence. . . .

Yes, in such case the standard deviation of residuals (the s term in front of the square root of the formula I used) would be large, for example, close to 20 instead of 4. Even for for an asymptotic case [large n, and small (x*- x_bar)], the outcome would be reported as p=30 +/- 20.
_______________________________________________________
Ludwik Kowalski, a retired physicist
5 Horizon Road, apt. 2702, Fort Lee, NJ, 07024, USA
Also an amateur journalist at http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/cf/