Statistical analysis of data

1998/99 University of London postgraduate lectures for particle physicists


Glen Cowan, Royal Holloway, University of London, phone: (01784) 44 3452, e-mail: g.cowan@rhbnc.ac.uk
Aims: The purpose of the course is to present the basic mathematical tools needed for the statistical analysis of experimental data. The course is designed for postgraduate students in particle physics, but it should be useful to physicists in other special fields as well. The methods will be practiced by writing and running short computer programs.

Syllabus: A general outline of the course topics.

Schedule: A timetable of all of the livenet lectures: ps, pdf

Books: The lectures will mainly follow

G. Cowan, Statistical Data Analysis, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.

This book has its own web site, which contains various data analysis resources. Also useful are:

R.J.Barlow, A Guide to the Use of Statistical Methods in the Physical Sciences, John Wiley, 1989;
W.T.Eadie et al., Statistical Methods in Experimental Physics, North-Holland, 1971;
S.Brandt, Statistical and Computational Methods in Data Analysis, Springer, New York, 1998;
L.Lyons, Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physics, CUP, 1986.

Lecture notes:

  • Lecture 1 (5 October 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 2 (12 October 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 3 (19 October 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 4 (2 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 5 (11 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 6 (16 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 7 (18 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 8 (25 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 9 (2 December 1998): ps, pdf
  • Lecture 10 (26 January 1999): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheets:

  • Problem sheet 1 (due 19 October 1998): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheet 2 (due 2 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheet 3 (due 11 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheet 4 (due 20 November 1998): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheet 5 (due 4 December 1998): ps, pdf
  • Problem sheet 6 (due 18 December 1998): ps, pdf
  • Some material from the tutorials and supplementary notes:

  • Routines for FORTRAN-callable fitting with MINUIT: fit_galileo.f, fcn_galileo.f, fit_galileo.lnk, galileo.dat.
  • Routines for interactive fitting with MINUIT: fitter.f, fcn.f, set_plot_options.f, show_par.f, write_line.f, ps_output.f, fitter.lnk, ls_data.dat, ls_fit.min.
  • A note on Blobel's unfolding program: ps, pdf.
  • The exam (paper 2, question 3):

  • The question: ps, pdf
  • The answer: ps, pdf

  • Glen Cowan