Ivan Anderson wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Marshall Dudley" <[email protected]> > . > > > > > > There is no standard deviation of a population of 1. > > > > I am not sure what you are speaking of. One has a standard deviation > of 1, > > but the curve is not normal by any means. > > > > Marshall
It depends on how you look at it. If I have a radiation counter, and take one 1 minute sample, and get 100 counts, then I have a sample set of one. But it DOES have a standard deviation, and the standard deviation is the square root of the mean, which is 100. Thus the standard deviation is 10, despite having only one sample. This come right out of statistics. I personally was project manager for nuclear counting systems for 26 years, and used these relationships all the time. You are thinking of the "measured" standard deviation, and I am speaking of the computed standard deviation. If sufficient number of samples are taken, then the two will match. Similar computations can be made for flipping coins. The theoretical basis is sound, so even if you flip a coin a certain number of times you can predict the mean and standard deviation, even without doing it. Marshall -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
