Part One: Probability

The Idea of the Experiment

The replicable experiment underlies the rigorous applications of statistics.

from Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary: experiment: …An operation carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law; to test or establish a hypothesis; or to illustrate a known law.

From Dorland's Medical Dictionary (25th Edition): experiment: … A procedure done in order to discover or demonstrate some fact or general truth.

An experiment has a few distinctive features:

protocol: … A well-defined set of procedures to be performed on each trial of the experiment.

regularity/replicability: … The protocol can be repeated under the same conditions - the basic conditions of the experiment remain stable across trials of the experiment.

We can think of an experiment at two levels:

… as the series of individual trials of the experimental protocol;

… as the process which is carried out for each trial in the experiment.