A little over a pandemic ago, the first article in this series on statistical analysis mentioned that a fundamental aspect of statistics is that one assumes a mathematical model that describes the distribution of a data set and then uses that model to estimate the probability that a given value or set of values will occur [1]. This allows us, for example, to estimate whether … [Read more...]
Statistic Corner: Comparing Populations
Introduction Previous articles in this series described the normal distribution and how it is used to relate probability and confidence levels [1, 2]. A practical application of the use of the confidence interval was to describe how to determine the range of values in which the true mean of a population falls within, based on the mean and standard deviation calculated from a … [Read more...]
Calculation Corner: Advective Thermal Resistance
A previous Electronics Cooling article, which discussed the process for analyzing the thermal performance of cooling fans [1], mentioned the need of accounting for the increasing coolant temperature as air passes through a heat sink. That article used an ‘average’ air temperature, which was defined as the midpoint between the inlet and outlet air temperatures. This article … [Read more...]
Normal Distribution
Introduction The previous column in this series [1] discussed statistical probability and showed that the plot of the probability of a given value occurring within a population can look like a hill in which there is a peak in the middle that tapers off to increasingly smaller slopes on each side. The example in that column referred to the scores produced by shaking a number of … [Read more...]
Larger Errors with Smaller Stuff
Thermal Facts and Fairytales by Ross Wilcoxon Long time readers of Electronics Cooling will undoubtedly recall one of our former editors: Clemens Lasance. One of Clemens’ many contributions to the magazine was the creation of the original “Thermal Facts and Fairy Tales” column, which provided a forum for him to discuss a variety of issues related to the use and misuse of … [Read more...]
