How Do I Correctly Fit a Gaussian to My Absorption Spectra Data?

[pazmush]

I have a set of data for an absorption spectra that I plot the firtst derivative of and it gives me a gaussianish plot, I then want to fit it with a gaussian and what I've been doing so far is calculating the mean and variace of the spread and then using them in the equation. Although this does give me a gaussian the amplitude is too large and I'm unsure weather this is the correct way to be doing the data analysis

Can anyone help, thanks

 

[Pere Callahan]

What you describe sounds right.

The maximum likelihood estimators for the mean and the variance of a normal distribution are simply the population mean and variance. Maybe you made a mistake in your calculations.

If not so, it would be helpful if you provide a some more details on what you are doing, maybe a picture