Data Analysis Techniques

Single module
Duration: 8 weeks
Assessment: Summative

Contact

Dr Michael Hunt: m.r.c.hunt@durham.ac.uk
Dr Ifan Hughes: i.g.hughes@durham.ac.uk

Content

The first half of the course deals with measurements and their uncertainties. After a brief review of the topic at undergraduate level, we rapidly move on to more advanced concepts: the central limit theorem; correlations in error propagation; least-squares fitting – the concept of a “good fit”, qualitative and quantitative; and hypothesis testing. Extensive use is made of the chi-squared statistic. The course is useful for experimentalists and theorists alike, as it allows both to answer questions such as “do the experimental results agree with the theory”, “does the theory agree with the experimental results”, and for theorists “which model works best”.

Reading List

The first half of the course follows closely the treatment of I G Hughes and T P A Hase “Measurements and their Uncertainties” (OUP, 2010).