Department of Applied Mechanics

APL 103

Experimental Methods
Semester I, 2020-21

L10

Murali R Cholemari
 Combined Experiments
• How do we combine the result of more than one experiment?
• Same quantity is measured, in two experiments, results are
𝑋𝑛 ± 𝑆𝑛 and 𝑋𝑚 ± 𝑆𝑚 respectively
• One way, like done earlier, is to give equal importance to both:
1Τ2
𝑆𝑛2 2
𝑆𝑚
𝑋𝑛,𝑚 = 𝑋𝑛 + 𝑋𝑚 Τ2 and 𝑆𝑛,𝑚 = +
2 2

But what if one of the measurements is superior to the other? Giving equal
weights is wrong here. Better: a weighted average;

𝑋𝑛,𝑚 = 𝛼𝑋𝑛 + 1 − 𝛼 𝑋𝑚 ; with 0 < 𝛼 < 1 (1)

𝛼 is decided by the quality of the measurement – close to 1 for superior

measurements of 𝑋𝑛 and close to 0 for poorer measurements of 𝑋𝑛
• 𝛼 is determined by the relative errors of 𝑋𝑛 and 𝑋𝑚 : if 𝑆𝑛 Τ𝑆𝑚 → ∞ then 𝑎 → 0

• Use the least squares principle to determine 𝛼. Since

𝑆𝑛,𝑚 = 𝜎 2 𝑋𝑛,𝑚 = 𝛼 2 𝜎 2 𝑋𝑛 + 1 − 𝛼 2 𝜎 2 𝑋𝑚
= 𝛼 2 𝑆𝑛2 + 1 − 𝛼 2 𝑆𝑚2

This has to be minimised, find 𝛼 for this:

2
ⅆ𝑆𝑛,𝑚
ⅆ𝛼
= 0 ֜ 𝛼𝑠𝑛2 − 1 − 𝛼 𝑠𝑚
2
= 0 which gives,
𝑆𝑚2 𝑆𝑛−2 𝑆𝑚−2
𝛼= 𝑆𝑛2 +𝑆𝑚2 = −2 +𝑆 −2 ;
𝑆𝑚
and 1 − 𝛼 = −2 +𝑆 −2
𝑆𝑚
using this,
𝑛 𝑛

1 𝑋𝑛 𝑋𝑚
𝑋𝑛,𝑚 = −2 −2 2 + 2
𝑆𝑛 + 𝑆𝑚 𝑆𝑛 𝑆𝑚

And the standard deviation

2
𝑆𝑛−2 + 𝑆𝑚
−2
𝑆𝑛,𝑚 =
−2 2
𝑆𝑛−2 + 𝑆𝑚
i.e.,
𝑆𝑛2 𝑆𝑚
2
= or,
𝑆𝑛2 +𝑆𝑚2

−2
𝑆𝑛,𝑚 = 𝑆𝑛−2 + 𝑆𝑚
−2

The estimate of 𝑋𝑛 and 𝑋𝑚 are given weights 𝑆𝑛−2 and 𝑆𝑚

−2
which enhances the importance of
the better experiment.
This result can be extended to many experiments: 𝑋𝑛 ± 𝑆𝑛 , 𝑋𝑚 ± 𝑆𝑚 , 𝑋𝑙 ± 𝑆𝑙 …
The best estimate of the combined result is:
1 𝑋𝑛 𝑋𝑚 𝑋𝑙
𝑋𝑛,𝑚,𝑙… = −2 −2 −2 −2 + −2 + −2 …
𝑆𝑛 + 𝑆𝑚 + 𝑆𝑙 … 𝑆𝑛 𝑆𝑚 𝑆𝑙
The standard error of the combined result is:
−2
𝑆𝑛,𝑚,𝑙… = 𝑆𝑛−2 + 𝑆𝑚
−2
+ 𝑆𝑙−2 …