From: Robert A. Knop Jr. (robert.a.knop@vanderbilt.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 27 2003 - 13:04:48 PST
On Thu, Feb 27, 2003 at 01:00:46PM -0800, Don Groom wrote:
> There is a big difference between a physical quantity and the value we
> measure, and they have to be kept separate. There is a "true" E*(B-V), and
> our measured value E(V-B). One can say that E*(B-V)<0, but it is incorrect
> to say that E(B-V) < 0.
I think you got that backwards.
The *true* one can't be negative. The measured one can, because
measurements have statistical errors (at least).
> But kicking out negative results is dangerous nonsense.
I agree with that, and certainly don't plan to do it in my paper.
The only reason to do this foolish exercise at all is to make sure that
I can approximate the Riess contours, so that when I produce a real
analysis of their data which looks much worse, I have some confidence
that I did it right.
-Rob
-- --Prof. Robert Knop Department of Physics & Astronomy, Vanderbilt University robert.a.knop@vanderbilt.edu
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