Re: [Phys-l] Basic statistics

["Polvani, Donald G." <donald.polvani@ngc.com>]

Jack Uretsky wrote:

> This is a misconception. There are many distributions that become
Gaussian in the large N limit, but not all.
> The chi-squared distribution is an example of one that does not. 

However, for the SUM of independent, identically distributed random
variables, each with mean mu and variance sigma^2, the central limit
theorem tells us that the distribution (of the sum) tends to a Gaussian
as N approaches infinity.

Don Polvani
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Undersea Systems
Annapolis, MD 21404