# Tagged Questions

The statistics tag has no wiki summary.

0answers
26 views

### What does the difference in odds for Bell's inequality tell us about quantum mechanics?

Bell's inequality defines a lower bound for agreement/disagreement between entangled particles. When the experiment is conducted it shows lower odds. What does this tell us? Is it possible that we ...
1answer
60 views

### Experimental measurement of volumetric flow rate

The other day I with my team had to measure the volumetric flow rate through a pipe only using a 2000 mm$^3$ volumetric flask and a chronometer. The end of the pipe discharged to the atmosphere. As we ...
1answer
38 views

### How many measurements should be done? [closed]

I am measuring time of a computer operation. The operation should run roughly same time each time I measure it. How many times should I measure it to get good average and standard deviation?
2answers
298 views

### Microsoft Excel not graphing $x = y^{1/2}$

The experiment was relating the period of one "bounce" when you hang a weight on a spring and let it bounce. I have this data here, one being mass and one being time. The time is an average of 5 ...
0answers
22 views

### Removing seasonal and non-seasonal oscillations with least-square method [closed]

I was trying to find help online, but with no luck :( Hoping you will help me! I have data containing sea temperature with depth. With data I need to remove seasonal and non-seasonal oscillations by ...
0answers
30 views

### is log-Laplace ever an optimal model for physical phenomena?

In the financial world, the log-Laplace distribution almost perfectly models many phenomena such as price changes. Does this model best fit any physical phenomena?
1answer
107 views

### Coherency matrix of partially polarized light doesn't contain all information on polarization state?

The electric field of quasi-monochromatic, partially polarized light can be expressed by the following random process (Goodman, Statistical optics) ...
1answer
54 views

### Underlying physical basis of an exponential distribution

My data set of upper atmospheric cloud occurrences $N$ versus their thickness (or optical brightness, say $B$) show an exponential variation over more than two orders of magnitude - that is $N$ varies ...
2answers
91 views

### What's the physical difference between the quantities $\langle v_{i}v_{j}\rangle$ and $\langle v_{i}\rangle\langle v_{j}\rangle$?

What's the physical difference between the quantities $\left\langle v_{i}v_{j}\right\rangle$ and $\left\langle v_{i}\right\rangle \left\langle v_{j}\right\rangle$? Where \$\left\langle ...
5answers
219 views

### Are Uncertainties in Measurements Important?

In the first lecture of MIT's Classical Mechanics Prof. Lewin highlights the importance of uncertainties in measurements by quoting "Any measurements, without the knowledge of uncertainty is ...
1answer
83 views

### What is a long-tailed distribution for physicists?

What is the most common definition of long tailed distribution for physicists? I am looking for definition and examples. Examples should have arguments why the distribution is or is not long tailed. ...
1answer
51 views

### Error in variance

I've been exploring techniques in statistical physics, specifically applying them to spin ices. I'm in the canonical ensemble. By using the fluctuation dissipation theorem you can extract useful ...
0answers
6 views

### Hardware random number generator Vs. Pseudo random number generator in the battlefield of Markov Chain Monte Carlo processes [migrated]

I'm implementing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo process for a Quantum Monte Carlo routine, in every book and paper I've read so far the success of the routine and quality of the results strongly depends ...
2answers
48 views

### Has anyone studied a statistical scaling law for the universe? [closed]

How do named objects in the universe scale? Is there a predictable curve for an ordered list, say {atom, animal, planet, solar system, galaxy, etc}? Can you then use the analysis to predict when the ...
1answer
5k views

### How do you find the uncertainty of an weighted average?

The following is taken from a practice GRE question: Two experimental techniques determine the mass of an object to be $11\pm 1\, \mathrm{kg}$ and $10\pm 2\, \mathrm{kg}$. These two ...
1answer
40 views

### Initial separation of neutron star/black hole binaries?

How would I go about finding the distribution of initial separations (i.e. the lengths between the centres of mass) of stars that make up binary systems. I am interested in neutron stars and stellar ...
2answers
678 views

### Physical interpretation of y-intercept in a Current vs Voltage graph

So I collected current and voltage data from a simple circuit with a power source and a resistor, using a multimeter. I created a graph for this data using excel and got the y-intercept (which is ...
0answers
32 views

### Irregular events within an otherwise cyclic time series

(I have asked the same question on math.stackexchange, but I figured that physicists might actually be more likely to have encountered the same problem before.) I am considering a time series with a ...
1answer
148 views

### Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity PDF to CDF [closed]

I asked on Math.SE and was advised to try here instead. I need to draw from a Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution to initialise a molecular dynamics simulation. I have the PDF but I'm having ...
0answers
62 views

### Pareto efficiency and Standard Model parameters

Pareto Efficiency is a well understood concept in economics, which basically is a condition where no one actor could be made better off without some one being made worse off. This condition allows ...
0answers
171 views

### Probability and probability amplitude

What made scientists believe that we should calculate probability $P$ as the $P = \left|\psi\right|^2$ in quantum mechanics? Was it the double slit experiment? How? Is there anywhere in the ...
1answer
44 views

### Statistical error in a regression

I measured some voltage values ($x$) and some corresponding frequencies ($y$). I know that the voltage can only be measured within an uncertainty $\Delta x$. And the uncertainty of $y$ shall be ...
2answers
157 views

### statistics for photon counts in photomultiplier

It seems that a common statistical model for the count numbers of a photomultiplier is a Poisson distribution whose parameter $\lambda$ equals to the square-root of the number of counts.(e.g. ...
4answers
228 views

### Statistics in physics

What are the uses of statistics in physics? I am about to embark upon a study of statistics and I would like to know what the particular benefits I gain in physics.
1answer
122 views

### Peak deconvolution [closed]

I need some help understanding how much information I can pull out of this data. I have a sample made up of two materials. Materials A and material B. Then I took a picture of the sample. The two ...
2answers
110 views

### Averaging decibels

Wikipedia: The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level. If I ...
2answers
1k views

### How do we know that some radioactive materials have a half life of millions or even billions of years?

If a radioactive material takes a very long time to decay, how is its half life measured or calculated? Do we have to actually observe the radioactive material for a very long time to extrapolate its ...
0answers
28 views

### Half-Life Question [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do we know that some radioactive materials have a half life of millions or even billions of years? I understand how to calculate decay, but it seems to me that the ...
2answers
69 views

### What is the Schechter luminosity function's domain of support?

I'm trying to fit a Schechter luminosity function to some data points, but it's not clear from this definition what the domain of support of the PDF should be. I'm familiar with the standard Pareto ...
3answers
258 views

### How to compute the expectation value $\langle x^2 \rangle$ in quantum mechanics?

$$\langle x^2 \rangle = \int_{-\infty}^\infty x^2 |\psi(x)|^2 \text d x$$ What is the meaning of $|\psi(x)|^2$? Does that just mean one has to multiply the wave function with itself?
1answer
90 views

### How to interpret a negative failure rate?

In statistical engineering the "hazard rate" of a distribution is defined as: $$r(x)=\frac{f(x)}{1-F(x)}$$ where $f(x)$ and $F(x)$ are the PDF and CDF. Basically $r(x)$ is the odds that, having ...
0answers
53 views

### Data set from Nanotechnology/Science Experiments

Does anyone know a source where I can get hold of data sets (or papers) generated from nano experiment. To give some examples: 1) Suppose in an experiment, the goal is to produce nanowires or ...
1answer
83 views

### Fitting of exponential data gives me a constant function [closed]

I conducted an experiment, where a capacitor is discharged over a (big) resistor for $t$ seconds and then the remaining charge is measured with a ballistic galvanometer. The data I have is: ...
3answers
1k views

### What are distinguishable and indistinguishable particles in statistical mechanics?

What are distinguishable and indistinguishable particles in statistical mechanics? While learning different distributions in statistical mechanics I came across this doubt; Maxwell-Boltzmann ...
2answers
99 views

### What is the relation of the release time of fossil fuel emissions to climate change? [closed]

This question presupposes that The amount of fossil fuels on earth is limited Mankind will burn all of its fossil fuels eventually Based on these presuppositions, the total amount of CO2 released ...
0answers
203 views

### Intensity of the diffraction pattern of the double slit

I am trying another approach for my last unanswered question. (Bounty still on for 3 days. Anyone? Please?) Note that this is not the same question but a greatly simplified version concerning a much ...
1answer
131 views

### How do you determine the degree of localization of a wavefunction?

Suppose that there is a wavefunction $\Psi (x,0)$ where 0 is referring to $t$. Let us also say that $a(k) = \frac{C\alpha}{\sqrt{\pi}}\exp(-\alpha^2k^2)$ is the spectral contents (spectral amplitudes) ...
2answers
192 views

### What do “local” and “global” mean when talking about standard deviations in experimental particle physics?

I found the following sentence: The excess is most compatible with a SM Higgs hypothesis in the vicinity of 124 GeV and below, but the statistical significance (2.6σ local and 1.9σ global after ...
2answers
122 views

### Wave Function Statistical Interpretation vs Oscillation Interpretation

Can the wave function solution to Schrodinger's Equation be interpreted as an oscillation between all possible measurements (obviously with some type of weighting that would describe the shape of the ...
0answers
69 views

### Randomly sampling a “well-mixed” solution of Brownian particles

I place $N$ Brownian particles in $V$ liters of solution, shake until I assume that the particles are "well-mixed", and sample and randomly sample an $S$ liter volume. What is the probability ...
2answers
121 views

### How to decide convergence of the ensemble average in a Monte Carlo process

I am simulating electromagnetic scattering off a rough surface. The usual process is to do a Monte Carlo simulation, which is briefly described as follows. Generate a randomly rough surface, and ...
2answers
159 views

### Average Neighbouring Impurity Separation in a Random 1D chain [closed]

I have a finite and discrete 1D chain (edit: linear chain, i.e. a straight line) of atoms, with unit separation, with a set number of impurities randomly distributed in the place of these atoms in ...
1answer
68 views

### Computing an average escape distance for a particle

Somewhere in a two dimensional convex bulk of particles (pic related) on a random position a reaction takes place and a particle is sent out in a random direction with a constant velocity $v$. What ...
2answers
286 views

### Use of Monte-Carlo simulation in High-energy Physics

I've been doing some research into the analysis used in particle physics when determining the significance of a finding (e.g. the recent Higgs candidate was announced as a boson in the 125-126 ...
2answers
58 views

### What is the minimal set of expectation values I need in a statistical model?

At least if $\vec v$ is really only a one dimensional parameter, measuring all the moments $\langle v^n \rangle_f$ seems to give me all the information to compute $\langle A \rangle_f$ with $A(v)$ ...
2answers
513 views

### Combining multiple theories with 5 $\sigma$ confidence level

Sadly I am not a physicist but I am interested in the topic. Please have mercy with me if you find my question trivial or dumb. Here it comes: As far I understand physicist express their certainty ...
0answers
62 views

### polynomial fit and uncertainty [closed]

I am trying to fit a polynomial function by least square method and I want to know the uncertainty on my fitting parameters. In which book can I find a clear answer?
3answers
259 views

### why the difference between $\langle \hat p^2 \rangle_{\psi}$ and $\langle \hat p \rangle_{\psi}^2$ is NOT zero?

Well, the difference between the two expressions $\langle \hat p^2 \rangle_{\psi}$ and $\langle \hat p \rangle_{\psi}^2$ is exactly $\Delta p^2$ , i.e. the squared uncertainty (variance) of the ...
1answer
108 views

### Lacking of scale and distribution moments

Given a physical random variable x, $E(x)$ and $E((x-<x>)^2)$ defines mean and variance. From a statistical point of view variance represents the statistic error (isn't it?). If variance is not ...
0answers
51 views

### Fitting of data to a model

Imagina that I have some observable value predicted with a theory for some process to be: 1+a x + b x^2 and observed value is 1.3 with an error 0.2; a and b are some numerical constants. I also have ...
{"extraction_info": {"found_math": true, "script_math_tex": 0, "script_math_asciimath": 0, "math_annotations": 0, "math_alttext": 0, "mathml": 0, "mathjax_tag": 0, "mathjax_inline_tex": 43, "mathjax_display_tex": 2, "mathjax_asciimath": 0, "img_math": 0, "codecogs_latex": 0, "wp_latex": 0, "mimetex.cgi": 0, "/images/math/codecogs": 0, "mathtex.cgi": 0}, "config": {"markdown_headings": true, "markdown_code": true, "boilerplate_config": {"ratio_threshold": 0.18, "absolute_threshold": 10, "end_threshold": 15, "enable": true}, "remove_buttons": true, "remove_image_figures": true, "remove_link_clusters": true, "table_config": {"min_rows": 2, "min_cols": 3, "format": "github"}, "remove_chinese": true, "remove_edit_buttons": true, "extract_latex": true}, "english_confidence": 0.9161664247512817, "perplexity_flag": "middle"}