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Re: st: Why many things have Normal distribution
From
Yuval Arbel <[email protected]>
To
statalist <[email protected]>
Subject
Re: st: Why many things have Normal distribution
Date
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:58:48 -0700
Vinicius,
I'm not sure that I have the full answer. However, an interesting book
that can recommend in this context is written by a well-known academic
physicist named Mario Livio.
The name of the book: "Is God A Mathematician?"
The author's claim is that the normal distribution was discovered in
the natural sciences in the 16 th century. When you make many
temperature measurements and write the outcomes - you will find they
are normally distributed.The first person who found that the normal
distribution can be applied to social problems and physical human
features is Adolf Katle who lived in today's Belgium.
P.S.The author implies that the name given to the normal distribution
as the "Gaos Bell" (named after the prince of Mathematician) is not
entirely justified
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 12:11 PM, 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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--
Dr. Yuval Arbel
School of Business
Carmel Academic Center
4 Shaar Palmer Street,
Haifa 33031, Israel
e-mail1: [email protected]
e-mail2: [email protected]
You can access my latest paper on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2263398
You can access previous papers on SSRN at: http://ssrn.com/author=1313670
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