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Re: [Phys-L] Statistics question

For an empirical distribution, such as the histogram of arbitrary data,
you might find that the maximum, FWHM, and HWHM are not very well
behaved. The mean and standard deviation are more likely to be well
behaved, but even that is not a sure thing.

For example, see the Cauchy distribution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauchy_distribution (which actually shows up in physics with forced resonance). The mean is not defined, and the standard deviation is infinite!