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Re: st: Why many things have Normal distribution
From
David Muller <[email protected]>
To
[email protected]
Subject
Re: st: Why many things have Normal distribution
Date
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 22:47:42 +0200
My intuition is the same as Roger's. If an observable quantity arises
as the linear combination of a number of weakly (or even somewhat
strongly) dependent processes, it will appear approximately normally
distributed. It seems to me that this is a plausible explanation for
many things. No need to appeal to physics.
Cheers,
David
On 29 August 2013 21:11, Roger B. Newson <[email protected]> wrote:
> I would guess that it is because so many things are equal to the sum of a
> large number of weakly-dependent terms. Or, in the case of a lognormal
> distribution, so many things are equal to the product of a large number of
> weakly-dependent factors. I don't know how string theory comes into all
> this.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Roger
>
> Roger B Newson BSc MSc DPhil
> Lecturer in Medical Statistics
> Respiratory Epidemiology and Public Health Group
> National Heart and Lung Institute
> Imperial College London
> Royal Brompton Campus
> Room 33, Emmanuel Kaye Building
> 1B Manresa Road
> London SW3 6LR
> UNITED KINGDOM
> Tel: +44 (0)20 7352 8121 ext 3381
> Fax: +44 (0)20 7351 8322
> Email: [email protected]
> Web page: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/nhli/r.newson/
> Departmental Web page:
> http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/about/divisions/nhli/respiration/popgenetics/reph/
>
> Opinions expressed are those of the author, not of the institution.
>
>
> On 29/08/2013 19:27, Marcos Vinicius wrote:
>>
>> hello,
>> Yesterday someone asked me a philosophical question :Why many things have
>> Normal distribution ( or at least approximately)?
>> My answer: It is a type of symmetry we observe in nature.. maybe a String
>> Theory specialist may have a technical answer.
>> How do you answer that question?
>> CLT maybe ?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Vinicius
>>
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