All students taking laboratory courses within the physical sciences and engineering will benefit from this book, whilst researchers will find it an invaluable reference. This concise, practical guide brings the reader up-to-speed on the proper handling and presentation of scientific data and its inaccuracies. It covers all the vital topics with practical guidelines, computer programs (in Python), and recipes for handling experimental errors and reporting experimental data. In addition to the essentials, it also provides further background material for advanced readers who want to understand how the methods work. Plenty of examples, exercises and solutions are provided to aid and test understanding, whilst useful data, tables and formulas are compiled in a handy section for easy reference.

This introductory textbook explains the concepts and methods of data and error analysis needed for laboratory experiment write-ups, especially physics and engineering experiments. The book contains the material needed for beginning students, e.g., first year university students, college students (enrolled on a certificate or diploma course) and even A-level students. Nevertheless, it also covers the required material for higher year university laboratories, including the final year. Only essential concepts and methods needed for the day-to-day performance of experiments and their subsequent analysis and presentation are included and, at the same time, presented as simply as possible. Non-essential detail is avoided. Chapter five is a stand-alone introduction to probability and statistics aimed at providing a theoretical background to the data and error analysis chapters one to four. Computer methods are introduced in Chapter six. The author hopes this book will serve as a constant reference.

This book is designed as a laboratory companion, student textbook or reference book for professional scientists. The text is for use in one-term numerical analysis, data and error analysis, or computer methods courses, or for laboratory use. It is for the sophomore-junior level, and calculus is a prerequisite. The new edition includes applications for PC use.

This hands-on guide is primarily intended to be used in undergraduate laboratories in the physical sciences and engineering. It assumes no prior knowledge of statistics. It introduces the necessary concepts where needed, with key points illustrated with worked examples and graphic illustrations. In contrast to traditional mathematical treatments it uses a combination of spreadsheet and calculus-based approaches, suitable as a quick and easy on-the-spot reference. The emphasis throughout is on practical strategies to be adopted in the laboratory. Error analysis is introduced at a level accessible to school leavers, and carried through to research level. Error calculation and propagation is presented though a series of rules-of-thumb, look-up tables and approaches amenable to computer analysis. The general approach uses the chi-square statistic extensively. Particular attention is given to hypothesis testing and extraction of parameters and their uncertainties by fitting mathematical models to experimental data. Routines implemented by most contemporary data analysis packages are analysed and explained. The book finishes with a discussion of advanced fitting strategies and an introduction to Bayesian analysis.

Problems after each chapter

This book is the product of five and a half years of research dedicated to the und- standing of radar interferometry, a relatively new space-geodetic technique for m- suring the earth’s topography and its deformation. The main reason for undertaking this work, early 1995, was the fact that this technique proved to be extremely useful for wide-scale, fine-resolution deformation measurements. Especially the interf- ometric products from the ERS-1 satellite provided beautiful first results—several interferometric images appeared as highlights on the cover of journals such as Nature and Science. Accuracies of a few millimeters in the radar line of sight were claimed in semi-continuous image data acquired globally, irrespective of cloud cover or solar illumination. Unfortunately, because of the relative lack of supportive observations at these resolutions and accuracies, validation of the precision and reliability of the results remained an issue of concern. From a geodetic point of view, several survey techniques are commonly available to measure a specific geophysical phenomenon. To make an optimal choice between these techniques it is important to have a uniform and quantitative approach for describing the errors and how these errors propagate to the estimated parameters. In this context, the research described in this book was initiated. It describes issues involved with different types of errors, induced by the sensor, the data processing, satellite positioning accuracy, atmospheric propagation, and scattering character- tics. Nevertheless, as the first item in the subtitle “Data Interpretation and Error Analysis” suggests, data interpretation is not always straightforward.

Our intention in preparing this book was to present in as simple a manner as possible those branches of error analysis which ?nd direct applications in solving various problems in engineering practice. The main reason for writing this text was the lack of such an approach in existing books dealing with the error calculus. Most of books are devoted to mathematical statistics and to probability theory. The range of applications is usually limited to the problems of general statistics and to the analysis of errors in various measuring techniques. Much less attention is paid in these books to two-dimensional and three-dim- sional distributions, and almost no attention is given to problems connected with the two-dimensional and three-dimensional vectorial functions of independent random variables. The theory of such vectorial functions ?nds new applications connected, for example, with analysis of the positioning accuracy of various mechanisms, among them of robot manipulators and automatically controlled earth-moving and loading machines, such as excavators.

This monograph on measurement error and misclassification covers a broad range of problems and emphasizes unique features in modeling and analyzing problems arising from medical research and epidemiological studies. Many measurement error and misclassification problems have been addressed in various fields over the years as well as with a wide spectrum of data, including event history data (such as survival data and recurrent event data), correlated data (such as longitudinal data and clustered data), multi-state event data, and data arising from case-control studies. Statistical Analysis with Measurement Error or Misclassification: Strategy, Method and Application brings together assorted methods in a single text and provides an update of recent developments for a variety of settings. Measurement error effects and strategies of handling mismeasurement for different models are closely examined in combination with applications to specific problems. Readers with diverse backgrounds and objectives can utilize this text. Familiarity with inference methods—such as likelihood and estimating function theory—or modeling schemes in varying settings—such as survival analysis and longitudinal data analysis—can result in a full appreciation of the material, but it is not essential since each chapter provides basic inference frameworks and background information on an individual topic to ease the access of the material. The text is presented in a coherent and self-contained manner and highlights the essence of commonly used modeling and inference methods. This text can serve as a reference book for researchers interested in statistical methodology for handling data with measurement error or misclassification; as a textbook for graduate students, especially for those majoring in statistics and biostatistics; or as a book for applied statisticians whose interest focuses on analysis of error-contaminated data. Grace Y. Yi is Professor of Statistics and University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo. She is the 2010 winner of the CRM-SSC Prize, an honor awarded in recognition of a statistical scientist's professional accomplishments in research during the first 15 years after having received a doctorate. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.

These notes describe how to average and fit numerical data that have been obtained either by simulation or measurement. Following an introduction on how to estimate various average values, they discuss how to determine error bars on those estimates, and how to proceed for combinations of measured values. Techniques for fitting data to a given set of models will be described in the second part of these notes. This primer equips readers to properly derive the results covered, presenting the content in a style suitable for a physics audience. It also includes scripts in python, perl and gnuplot for performing a number of tasks in data analysis and fitting, thereby providing readers with a useful reference guide.

Great scientists master the math behind the science. Do you still delay mastering data analysis, keeping you from more accurate, rigorous, and higher certainty conclusions? Jack Merrin, Ph.D. Princeton University, is a physicist who has helped hundreds of students with math and physics, taught physics labs, and used error analysis through 25 years of research. You can surely learn the right statistical methods from Jack. Introduction to Error Analysis is more than a collection of ad-hoc statistical theory. It is an easy-to-read blueprint used by scientists for presenting correct results. Transform your experimental perspective to confidence. Learn reusable principles for each new scientific project. This book covers reporting measurements and uncertainties, propagation of error, combining results, curve fitting, essential statistical concepts, and much, much, more. You might love this book if: You are doing lab reports or actual research, and it's time to get serious about data analysis. You want to focus on the essential calculations, not on time-wasting theory. You want adaptable MATLAB code for each different calculation. Hey, no need to reinvent the wheel. You want to reach correct and unique results using the established convention. You want to know what is correct to spot bad scientific literature. Introduction to Error Analysis is the concise book you need to start building your successful scientific career. If you like easy-to-follow lessons, practical examples, insightful tips, and an author who actually cares about you getting it right, then you'll love Jack's book. Buy Introduction to Error Analysis to start refining your data analysis skills today!