[R] [OT] "Dispersion" in French

[Philippe Grosjean]

Hello Ted,

I would interpret this sentence the same way as you do. for me, in 
French, "dispersion" is a general term and there is no clue of which 
dispersion measurement was used... perhaps elsewhere in your text?
Best,

Philippe

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( ( ( ( (    Prof. Philippe Grosjean
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(Ted Harding) wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> I'm posting this OT query here because of out very international
> membership!
> 
> In the French sentence
> 
>   "Les taux de tirage sont calculés de manière à ce que la
>    dispersion soit inférieure à 5 % dans chaque strate."
> 
> it would seem intended that the "dispersion" is to be calculated
> in a specific way (unstated) -- otherwise, how to ensure that it
> shall be less than 5%?
> 
> So my question is: What, in English, would one use for "dispersion"?
> 
> Standard deviation?
> 
> Just as in English, also in general French usage in statistics,
> "dispersion" is a general term for which one can adopt various
> "mesures de dispersion" such as "écart standard", etc. So in
> principle this sentence is as meaningful as the English "The sample
> sizes are to be calculated so as to ensure that the dispersion
> is less then 5% in each stratum." I would still want to know
> which measure of dispersion is to be adopted!
> 
> Nevertheless, perhaps francophone statisticians will have a
> "default" interpretation of "dispersion" in such a context.
> 
> With thanks for any help,
> Ted.
> 
> 
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> Date: 08-Jul-05                                       Time: 09:30:04
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