[R] [OT] "normal" (as in "Guassian")

[Duncan Murdoch]

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.

Duncan Murdoch

> 
> 
> --Jim Rogers 
> 
> 
> On Mar 2, 2008, at 7:33 AM, (Ted Harding) wrote: 
> 
>> Hi Folks, 
>> Apologies to anyone who'd prefer not to see this query 
>> on this list; but I'm asking because it is probably the 
>> forum where I'm most likely to get a good answer! 
>> 
>> I'm interested in the provenance of the name "normal 
>> distribution" (for what I'd really prefer to call the 
>> "Gaussian" distribution). 
>> 
>> According to Wikipedia, "The name "normal distribution" 
>> was coined independently by Charles S. Peirce, Francis 
>> Galton and Wilhelm Lexis around 1875." 
>> 
>> So be it, if that was the case -- but I would like to 
>> know why they chose the name "normal": what did they 
>> intend to convey? 
>> 
>> As background: I'm reflecting a bit on the usage in 
>> statistics of "everyday language" as techincal terms, 
>> as in "significantly different". This, for instance, 
>> is likely to be misunderstood by the general publidc 
>> when they encounter statements in the media. 
>> 
>> Likewise, "normally distributed" would probably be 
>> interpreted as "distributed in the way one would 
>> normally expect" or, perhaps, "there was nothing 
>> unusual about the distribution." 
>> 
>> Comments welcome! 
>> With thanks, 
>> Ted. 
>> 
> 
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