[R] [OT] "normal" (as in "Guassian")

Peter Dalgaard p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk
Mon Mar 3 23:59:35 CET 2008


Andrew Robinson wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 03, 2008 at 10:22:41PM +0100, Peter Dalgaard wrote:
>   
>> Patrick Burns wrote:
>>     
>>> Douglas Bates wrote:
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 8:25 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca> wrote:
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>>>> On 3/3/2008 9:10 AM, Rogers, James A [PGRD Groton] wrote:
>>>>>       
>>>>>           
>>>>>> As someone of partly French heritage, I would also ask how this
>>>>>> distribution came to be called "Gaussian". It seems very unfair to de
>>>>>> Moivre, who discovered the distribution at least half a century earlier.
>>>>>> :-)
>>>>>>         
>>>>>>             
>>>>> Just an example of Stigler's Law.
>>>>>    
>>>>>
>>>>>       
>>>>>           
>>>> Taking this to a whole new level of "off topic", I wonder if Stigler's
>>>> Law is self-referential?  That is, should Stigler's Law more correctly
>>>> be attributed to someone else?
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> No.  If Stigler's Law were named after some prior person,
>>> then it wouldn't be an example of itself.
>>>   
>>>       
>> Only if said person actually was first to discover it, surely.
>>     
>
> I believe that Stigler believes that he was not the first to discover
> Stigler's Law
Which is why it is an example of itself...

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Øster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K
 (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen   Denmark      Ph:  (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk)              FAX: (+45) 35327907



More information about the R-help mailing list