Sigma One
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
2015-05-18 v1 Mathematical Physics
math.MP
Abstract
We demonstrate that it is possible to calculate not only the mean of an underlying population but also its dispersion, given only a single observation and physically reasonable constraints (i.e., that the quantities under consideration are non-negative and bounded). We suggest that this counter-intuitive conclusion is in fact at the heart of most modeling of astronomical data.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1004.0448,
title = {Sigma One},
author = {Barry F. Madore},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1004.0448},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted to the Astronomical Journal. 13 pages, 4 figures