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Why Do Physicists Use Gaussian Error Distributions?
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[QUOTE="mpresic3, post: 6538607, member: 641213"] Gaussian processes have at least three convenient reasons for study. 1. The central limit theorem demonstrates (with some exceptions), that the sum of many random variables, each with (almost) any distribution, will be distributed gaussian. 2. The linear transformation of gaussian distributed random variable remains gaussian. 3. There is a lot of spin offs as far as the techniques. For example manipulation of gaussians is important in the the study of quantum harmonic oscillators, and path integrals. Many field theory problems are tractable because they involve gaussians. Now I have had a course in robust estimation and I am aware (the professor told me in the first 5 minutes), that there is more to statistics than gaussian estimation, but gaussian processes are good place to start. I think there was a thread a few months ago as to why the linear approximations are treated so ubiquitously in physics, and computer simulation replaces the need for this kind of analysis. I think the answer to the question in the thread is similar to the answer to the earlier question. [/QUOTE]
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Why Do Physicists Use Gaussian Error Distributions?
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