[On the off chance that no one else has replied to this since it was received...] On Sat, 19 Jun 1999 12:55:46, Jeff Woods wrote: <snip> Starting at about M13, you see that there are indeed islands: <snip some more> Given the strong linearity of "log(exponents of mersenne primes)", it is not surprising that the averages of consecutive pairs or triples will also be linear. Indeed, taking the "centers" of the islands as data points will actually produce a stronger correlation than the original data. If I go back and average consecutive exponents (well, the log of the exponents, anyway), the correlation with a straight line improves from .9925 to .9935 (compared to the original data). If I get to throw away the ones that don't "fit" according to some arbitrary criterion, it may improve marginally. [Note: using your choices actually reduces the correlation to .9849!] So perhaps we should remember Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics." -Shaun Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of ________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm
