Statistical data analysis
The statistical analysis takes a large amount of numbers from an experiment
and transform them into a few important numbers. This could be the average
temperature of the plasma or the peak velocity in the domain as a function of time.
These numbers have to be representative of the experiment as they are used
for comparisons with
observations. The difference between the statistical number from the experiment
and the observations may therefore indicate whether we understand the physics
involved in the process or not.
You could make your own statistical analysis. You could for instance
measure the
height and weight of all pupils from different classes in your school. Then
see how the average values change with the age group. Any surprises? What about
differences when doing it for boys and girls individually ? (What about
uncertainty in the average values [standard deviation]???)
Return to the "data analysis" page.