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Re: [Phys-l] data analysis : pendulum period versus length



On 5/11/2011 6:12 PM, John Denker wrote:
On 05/11/2011 02:57 PM, Dan Crowe wrote:
John Denker said, in part: "The real question IMHO is how well the
data fits the model."


Having been trained as an experimentalist, I prefer to phrase the
question in the opposite direction: "How well does the model fit the
data?"
Interesting point.

It could go either way. For example, I consider myself a
card-carrying (and scar-carrying) experimentalist ... but if
a high-school kinematics experiment finds that F is not equal
to ma, I would bet that most of the discrepancy comes from
the data, not from the model.

An interesting dialog: it appears that the great granddaddy of all kinematics
experimentalists - Galileo - was guilty of fitting his data too forcefully to his model,
when he considered the time taken for balls to descend a grooved board
(without considering the angular momentum involved)

Brian W