From owner-freebsd-platforms Sun Aug 17 07:35:54 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id HAA01248 for platforms-outgoing; Sun, 17 Aug 1997 07:35:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sag.space.lockheed.com (sag.space.lockheed.com [192.68.162.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id HAA01242; Sun, 17 Aug 1997 07:35:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost by sag.space.lockheed.com; (5.65v3.2/1.1.8.2/21Nov95-0423PM) id AA27077; Sun, 17 Aug 1997 07:35:47 -0700 Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 07:35:47 -0700 (PDT) From: "Brian N. Handy" To: Greg Lehey Cc: "Julian H. Stacey" , chat@FreeBSD.ORG, platforms@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: speed test In-Reply-To: <19970817150033.65486@lemis.com> Message-Id: X-Files: The truth is out there Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-platforms@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Sun, 17 Aug 1997, Greg Lehey wrote: >On Sat, Aug 16, 1997 at 12:42:09PM -0600, Warner Losh wrote: >> In message <199708161005.MAA02831@desk.jhs.no_domain> "Julian H. Stacey" writes: >>> What does "3-sigma" mean in English ? >>> (I'm English not American, perhaps others were puzzled too ?) >> >> Three standard deviations away from the average. Generally used to >> connote being on the cutting edge. > >That's a rather arbitary interpretation, isn't it? What about the >trailing edge? Yes, 3-sigma means we're talking something that's statistically 99.[99...7]% out of the normal range, or "3 standard-deviations away". Oh, one more piece of the puzzle -- the Greek symbol sigma is typically used to represent the standard deviation of a measurement. So if you play xgalaga all the time and your average score is 100 points with a standard deviation of 10, you are "3-sigma" out if you score 70 or 130. I think. (Hey, this is stats. I hate stats.) Happy trails, Brian