NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: That darned old cocked hat
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Dec 9, 21:51 -0000
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Dec 9, 21:51 -0000
Peter Fogg wrote- "3. Use of the slope technique, using the calculated slope, is the best method presently known to reduce random observational error." That is no more than an assertion, one that Peter Fogg has been making repeatedly for some years. He has claimed that he can get closer to the truth than can a statistical least-squares fit, or simply averaging the observations for time and altitude. Recently-joined Navlist members will not be aware that a year or two back, I posted several sets of artificially-generated observations, with slope and intercept known (but not disclosed). These data points had then been perturbed by having computer-generated random offsets added to them, to simulate real data, as closely as was possible.. Peter Fogg was then challenged to apply whatever methods he chose, to show us whether he could discover those original undisclosed values, more precisely than could be done by a standard statistical analysis. He declined to take part. That test could always be repeated, whenever Peter Fogg chooses. George. contact George Huxtable, at george@hux.me.uk or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
