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Old 05-25-2011, 05:38 PM   #7 (permalink)
gone-ot
...beats walking...
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill in Houston View Post
so what would your answer be to his actual question?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man View Post
...mathematically, you need three data sets to average in order to obtain a meaningful "average" value (think of them as: one-too high, one-real, one-too low).

...statistically, you need 30 data sets to determine any (if they exist) trends or relationships.
...three for baseline, more (30) if he plans on making analyses or predictions (look-up student-t approximation to normal distribution)

...what he intends to do with the data in the future is the determining factor.

Last edited by gone-ot; 05-25-2011 at 10:22 PM..
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