Message-ID: <47CD4FF4.1040509@yorku.ca>
Date: 2008-03-04T13:34:44Z
From: Michael Friendly
Subject: [OT] "normal" (as in "Guassian")
In-Reply-To: <40e66e0b0803031017u19fc162cu9b7e46ed846cb9b6@mail.gmail.com>
Douglas Bates wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 8:25 AM, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch at stats.uwo.ca> wrote:
>> On 3/3/2008 9:10 AM, Rogers, James A [PGRD Groton] wrote:
>> > As someone of partly French heritage, I would also ask how this
>> > distribution came to be called "Gaussian". It seems very unfair to de
>> > Moivre, who discovered the distribution at least half a century earlier.
>> > :-)
>>
>> Just an example of Stigler's Law.
>
> Taking this to a whole new level of "off topic", I wonder if Stigler's
> Law is self-referential? That is, should Stigler's Law more correctly
> be attributed to someone else?
>
Yes, indeed. Stigler himself attributes the idea to Robert Merton,
and cites his title, 'Stigler's Law of Eponomy' as a perfect example.
--
Michael Friendly Email: friendly AT yorku DOT ca
Professor, Psychology Dept.
York University Voice: 416 736-5115 x66249 Fax: 416 736-5814
4700 Keele Street http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html
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