Editing 1574: Trouble for Science

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;(Title text) Careful mathematical analysis demonstrates small-scale irregularities in Gaussian distribution
 
;(Title text) Careful mathematical analysis demonstrates small-scale irregularities in Gaussian distribution
 
This is another joke of a premise that is obviously untrue. The {{w|Gaussian function|Gaussian distribution}} is a mathematical construct that is generally known as the bell curve or the Normal distribution. As it is an ideal mathematical construction, by definition, it cannot have any irregularities - similar to how the equation y = 2x + 1 cannot have small-scale irregularities. The joke probably alludes to the fact that many types of observations are frequently initially modeled as a Gaussian distribution, though on careful observation the actual distribution of outcomes will often deviate from a pure Gaussian distribution.
 
This is another joke of a premise that is obviously untrue. The {{w|Gaussian function|Gaussian distribution}} is a mathematical construct that is generally known as the bell curve or the Normal distribution. As it is an ideal mathematical construction, by definition, it cannot have any irregularities - similar to how the equation y = 2x + 1 cannot have small-scale irregularities. The joke probably alludes to the fact that many types of observations are frequently initially modeled as a Gaussian distribution, though on careful observation the actual distribution of outcomes will often deviate from a pure Gaussian distribution.
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In addition, an experiment to test a Gaussian distribution will have a finite sample size, giving a non-exact Gaussian distribution. A possible paper submitted would conclude that this result is "approximately a normal distribution" with "small-scale irregularities". A news reporter without knowledge of statistics could easily misinterpret that this paper decisively concludes errors in the mathematical definitions (rather than coming from random error inherent in experimenting).
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==

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