Re: [OT][Long][You All Know Everything Dept] Recommendations for Stat book?

From: T.M. Sommers (tms_at_nj.net)
Date: 06/22/04

  • Next message: Antony Blakey: "Re: OT: Recursive descent parsers" 
    Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 01:17:56 -0400

    Kenny Tilton wrote:
    >
    > "You may wonder why you need to divide by (n-1) rather than n when
    > computing sample variance ...
    > turns out that the sample variance s^2 with (n-1) in the denominator
    > provides better estimates of
    > (sigma)^2 than would an estimator calculated with n in the denominator"
    >
    > And that's it. As a mathematically curious person with college calculus
    > experience, I find that to
    > be extremely intellectually unsatisfying.

    I like what the authors of _Numerical Recipes_ have to say on
    this issue: "We might also comment that if the difference between
    N and N-1 ever matters to you, then you are probably up to no
    good ... ."

    > Me, I think the guy should stick to Harry Potter on the subway, but if
    > anyone can think of a suitable title I will relay it back.

    Harry Potter and the Analysis of Variance? 

    -- 
Thomas M. Sommers -- tms@nj.net -- AB2SB
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