HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: withoff@spider.wri.com (David Withoff)
Subject: Re: Mathematica problem with limits (oo - oo).
Organization: Wolfram Research, Inc.
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1992 15:02:25 GMT

In article <alex.711294892@pv3449.vincent.iastate.edu> alex@iastate.edu (Roger Alexander) writes:
>In <1992Jul15.211655.37815@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> fc03@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Frederick W. Chapman) writes:
>
>>I am posting this for one of our Mathematica users.
>
>> [...]
>
>>The user is running Mathematica V1.2 on an IBM RS/6000 workstation.
>
>>                    Limit[E^x - x, x -> Infinity]
>
>>is left unevaluated (as written, it is of the indeterminate form
>>Infinity - Infinity) [...]
>
>>	  [...]	 The user would like to know if there is a way to
>>get Mathematica to evaluate the limit of the original form of the
>>expression, without having to first factor out an 'x'. 
>
>In case you hoped that an upgrade would help:
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>Mathematica 2.0 for DEC RISC
>Copyright 1988-91 Wolfram Research, Inc.
> -- X11 windows graphics initialized --
>
>In[1]:= Limit[E^x - x, x -> Infinity]
>
>Infinity::indet: Indeterminate expression -Infinity + Infinity encountered.
>
>               x
>Out[1]= Limit[E  - x, x -> Infinity]
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>May someone will contribute a solution that uses pattern matching?
>Or even functional programming?
>-- 
>*_________________*  "Faculty members encourage the free pursuit of       
> Roger Alexander  | learning in their students and protect academic          
> alex@iastate.edu | freedom of students." --ISU Faculty Handbook
>*_________________* [official statement of policies & procedures]

Actually, an upgrade might help after all.  Version 2 includes a
package Calculus`Limit` which, among other things, distinguishes
different orders of Infinity, thereby allowing it to handle things
like x - Exp[x]:

In[1]:= << Calculus`Limit`

In[2]:= Limit[E^x - x, x -> Infinity]

Out[2]= Infinity

In[3]:= Limit[x - Exp[x], x -> Infinity]

Out[3]= -Infinity

If an upgrade isn't available, you could add a rule
to implement the suggested transformation:

In[5]:= Limit[a_ + b_, lim_] := Block[{lima, limb},
            lima = Limit[a, lim];
            limb = Limit[b, lim];
            If[Head[lima] == DirectedInfinity,
                Return[Limit[a (1 + b/a), lim] ] ];
            If[Head[limb] == DirectedInfinity,
                Return[Limit[b (1 + a/b), lim] ] ];
            lima + limb ]

In[6]:= Limit[E^x - x, x -> Infinity]

Out[6]= Infinity

Or, if you lots of time and are interested in limit algorithms, you could
adapt the Version 2 package to run in Version 1, or write such a package
yourself.  The basic ideas are fairly straightforward.

Dave Withoff
withoff@wri.com
Newsgroups: sci.math.symbolic
From: evans@eedsp.gatech.edu (Brian Evans)
Subject: Re: Notebook for mma on Sun
Keywords: notebook, mma
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 23:32:29 GMT

	The word is by the end of this year.

	Wolfram Research Inc. has actually been developing one for
	  sometime.  They have not forgotten their Unix users.
          Besides, their largest market share is engineers and
          we tend to use Unix workstations for research, development,
          and design.

	I believe that the Unix Notebook facility will run under X windows.

	And hopefully, there will be a public domain Notebook reader
          like there is on the Mac.
 	
-- 
Brian L. Evans
Digital Signal Processing Laboratory
School of Electrical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA  30332-0250

USENET:   ...!{allegra,hplabs,ulysses}!gatech!eedsp!evans
INTERNET: evans@eedsp.gatech.edu
From: edgar@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Gerald Edgar)
Newsgroups: sci.math.symbolic
Subject: Re: New class of functions found, impact of CAS on math
Date: 23 Jul 1992 12:32:35 -0400
Organization: The Ohio State University, Dept. of Math.
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu

>In article <2350@nic.cerf.net> jcbhrb@nic.cerf.net (Jacob Hirbawi) writes:

>>Very interesting article! I'm not sure I beleive his claim: "I've shown that
>>problems of divergence can be banished from math applications"; but the
>>example about the "companion" function to exp(x) is worth a closer look.
>>You have to admit that you don't expect this function to converge quickly
>>(if at all):
>>
>>      B(x) = 1 + x + 2!x^2 + 3!x^3 + 4!x^4 + ... + n!x^n + ...
>>  

In article <1992Jul23.152053.17774@news.eng.convex.com> jchrist@convex.com (Jeff Christenson) writes:
>Well, I'm only interested in this because it showed up in EE Times, and 
>I'm only in sci.math.symbolic because that's where someone mentioned the 
>problem; but could someone tell me what I'm missing about this.
>
>The equation is accompanied by a graph that I assume is showing B(x) for
>various values of x.  On the right side of the vertical axis (positive values
>of x, right?), the line rises until about where x=1, then dips towards about 
>-0.8 around x=90; then sorta heads back towards 0, but does not cross it.
>(nice technical description, huh?).  
>
>What I don't understand is why B(x) is ever negative when x is positive.
>All of the terms are added, and n! seems like it would always be positive 
>for n>0, and x^n seems like it would always be positive for x>0 and n>0.
>
>Do n! and x^n do wierd things as n approaches infinity?  Or is that the whole
>reason for the symbolic algebra and terminal summation?
>

The series diverges for all nonzero x.  So the sense in which the
series represents the function is only in terms of "summation methods"
for divergent series.  This function, used by Euler, can be
written as

  exp(-1/x)*Ei(1/x)/x,

where Ei is the exponential integral.  It has a removable discontinuity
at zero, and its Taylor series is, indeed, the one given above.

An ASCII version of the graph looks like this: [drawn by Maple]
Near x=0 it does turn around and arrive at y=1.

|  A
|  A
+ 0.4
|   A
|   A
|   A
|   AA
+ 0.2A
|    A
|     A
|     A                                                                       x
+-0----*-----+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
0       AA   5           10           15           20           25           30
|        AAA                                        AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
|          AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
+ -0.2
|
|
|
|
+ -0.4
|
|

The minumum seems to be at about x=8.


-- 
  Gerald A. Edgar                Internet:  edgar@mps.ohio-state.edu
  Department of Mathematics      Bitnet:    EDGAR@OHSTPY
  The Ohio State University      telephone: 614-292-0395 (Office)
  Columbus, OH 43210             -292-4975 (Math. Dept.) -292-1479 (Dept. Fax)
From: ap@levangerhs.no (Andrei Prasolov)
Subject: Re: ALGEBRAIC NUMBER ARITHMETIC
Keywords: algebraic numbers, arithmetic
Organization: Hogskolen i Levanger
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 15:11:49 GMT

Answering to <aet.712408532@munagin> 
in <1992Jul29.163830.6443@ugle.unit.no> 
I made a mistake. If we represent algebraic numbers
only by their minimal polynomials, we cannot construct
a correct arithmetic. Let us take the main root x of

        2                              
f(X) = X -2 and the main root y of

        4                
g(Y) = Y -2. The algorythm says that z = x+y is 

a root of h(Z) = h_1(Z) * h_2(Z) where
h_1(Z) = (Z^2+2)^2-2(2Z+1)^2 
     has roots x+y, x-y, -x+iy, -x-iy, and
h_2(Z) = (Z^2+2)^2-2(2Z-1)^2
     has roots x+iy, x-iy, -x+y, -x-y.
The algorythm cannot determine, which polynomial
from the two the number x+y is a root of.
   So the representation by pairs (irr. polynomial, interval)
seems to be reasonable. One needs, however, the following
two algorythms:
  1. Separation of roots of a polynomial 
           (there exists a lot of algorythms).
  2. Decomposition of polynomials over Q into
     prime factors (I am not aware of any). 

              Andrei PRASOLOV
              Hoegskolen i Levanger
              Kirkegt 1, 7600 Levanger
              Norway

Tel. 47-76-89157 (office), 47-76-89688+2304 (home)
Telefax 47-76-89155, e-mail AP@LEVANGERHS.NO
From: edgar@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Gerald Edgar)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: You know, the integers (was: Re: Stupid question about FLT)
Date: 21 Jul 1992 10:44:43 -0400
Organization: The Ohio State University, Dept. of Math.
NNTP-Posting-Host: function.mps.ohio-state.edu

In article <1992Jul21.132554.152734@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> fc03@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Frederick W. Chapman) writes:

>If I am not mistaken, there are no *KNOWN* models for ZFC, standard or
>otherwise!

"Sure.  There is a model for ZFC."

"What is it?"

"You know, THE SETS."
-- 
  Gerald A. Edgar                Internet:  edgar@mps.ohio-state.edu
  Department of Mathematics      Bitnet:    EDGAR@OHSTPY
  The Ohio State University      telephone: 614-292-0395 (Office)
  Columbus, OH 43210             -292-4975 (Math. Dept.) -292-1479 (Dept. Fax)
From: eclark@gauss.math.usf.edu. (Edwin Clark)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: The spectrum of the Johnson graph J(m,d)
Date: 18 Jul 92 05:23:51 GMT
Organization: Univ. of South Florida, Math Department

In article <3681@svin02.info.win.tue.nl> pwk@win.tue.nl writes:
>A friend of mine is supposed to work on a paper, regarding 
>the spectrum of the Johnson graph J(m,d).
>For some classes of parameters, he has got answers/knows
>how to find them.
>His (and mine) question is: is the spectrum known for all
>m and d?
>
>Any help is welcome.
>
>Pieter Kuppens    (pwk@win.tue.nl)



The eigenvalues of the Johnson graphs are given in Theorem
9.1.2 (in chapter 9) of the book

     "Distance Regular Graphs"
     by AE Brouwer, AM Cohen and A Neumaier


---Edwin Clark
From: andrew@rentec.com (Andrew Mullhaupt)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: Summation of "finite difference powers"
Date: 22 Jul 92 16:18:58 GMT
Organization: Renaissance Technologies Corp., Setauket, NY.

In article <54641@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>The various responders seem to be ignorant of the "standard" 
>result, easily proved by induction, that
>
>	 N
>	sum k*(k+1)* ... *(k+j-1) = k*(k+1)* ... *(k+j)/(j+1)
>	 1
>
>This is the finite difference analog of int(x^j) = x^(j+1)/(j+1),

Did you not get that flavor from my post? After all, we can call it
Euler's summation formula, or the definition of the Bernoulli numbers, etc.,
but why appeal to a 'formula' when the appeal is nearly as much to type as
the proof of the simple application. In fact there is a neat way to do this
using 'factorial powers'. If I had posted one of these, would you think I
was ignorant of the other two? Since you didn't mention these, should we
conclude that you are ignorant of them?

That is the point of my polemical part - just because you answer a question
in a specific way - should we make inferences about what you know and don't
know? I'd like to keep it as close to inferring that we can _know_ something
when we can see a proof of it.

Later,
Andrew Mullhaupt
From: sundar+@cs.cmu.edu (Sundar Vallinayagam)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Higher Order Determinants
Summary: determinant of higher order matrices
Keywords: determinants, matrices
Date: 23 Jul 92 02:53:05 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

To the math gurus out in netland...

I am trying to construct square matrices in higher dimensions and
compute their determinants.  The order of the matrix is fixed.
For example, 


    -     -
   | a   b |
   |       |
   | c   d |
    -     - 

is a plain-vanilla 2x2 matrix.  No problems with its determinant.
Its more sophisticated cousin, a 2nd order matrix in one higher
dimension would be:

         p------q
        /|     /|
       / |    / |
      /  |   /  |
     a------b   |
     |   |  |   |
     |   r--|---s  
     |  /   |  /  
     | /    | /
     c------d 

The determinant of this matrix cube would be, I think,
sum (with proper signs attached) of products of the form

  a s,  b r, c q, and d p

Increase the dimension by one more and the situation gets
quite hairy, worsened by the fact that you cannot visualize
the matrix.

Can any kindly soul suggest a reference that gives the
procedure to calculate the determinant of an n-th order
matrix of dimension m ?  A book reference would be more
understandable than a journal paper.

Thanks a bunch!

Ramli.

PS: I would appreciate your sending any response to
    ramli@ele.uri.edu rather than to this account.
-- 
**************************************************
ramli@orca.ele.uri.edu
**************************************************
From: minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
Newsgroups: sci.math
Subject: Re: Buckets of water (references sought)
Date: 27 Jul 92 05:19:18 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory

In article <KAI.92Jul26211336@cyklop.nada.kth.se> kai@cyklop.nada.kth.se (Kai-Mikael J-Aro) writes:
>I have been thinking about those old puzzles where you are given two
>buckets of specific volumes and have to measure up a certain,
>different, volume of water in one of them.
>
>Has anything been written on this subject?  (I can't even begin to
>guess how to make a literature search.  "Look for 'bucket' and/or
>'water' - whoops 45000 hits..." ;-)

There is a classic book, "Rigidity of Behavior," by Abraham Luchins,
which discusses the psychology (rather than the mathematics) of
Newsgroups: sci.math
From: sweldens@math.scarolina.edu (Wim Sweldens)
Subject: roots of a Fourier series
Keywords: Fourier, root
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date: 22 Jul 92 22:25:12 GMT


Consider the following Fourier series:

    f(x) = sum_{k=1}^{infinity}  a_k sin ( k x )

with a_1 positive.

Obviously f(x) vanishes at the integer multiples of pi.

Now: is there a condition on the coefficients a_k such that f(x) does
     not vanish anywhere else (i.e. has no roots in between the integer
     multiples of pi) ?

I know that  sum_{k=2}^{infinity} k |a_k| < a_1 is a sufficient
condition, but does anyone have anything better ?

+ What happens if you add the cosine terms ?

Any help or reference appreciated.

Wim Sweldens. (sweldens@math.scarolina.edu)
Newsgroups: sci.math
From: tycchow+@cs.cmu.edu (Timothy Chow)
Subject: Re: An interesting limit problem.
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 15:54:06 GMT
Organization: None.  This saves me from writing a disclaimer.

In article <1992Jul25.212844.1@lure.latrobe.edu.au> mattm@lure.latrobe.edu.au writes:

>                sin(tan x)    -    tan(sin x)
>	lim  ----------------------------------  = ???
>	x->0 arcsin(arctan x) - arctan(arcsin x)

How does Arnold solve this problem?

[Apologies to those who have seen this article before; MIT is having
trouble with news again.]
From: strgh@warwick.ac.uk (J E H Shaw)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Re: random number generator
Keywords: pseudo-random, C , uniform, normal
Date: 27 Jul 92 13:32:17 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK

In article <1992Jul27.124120.29511@cl.cam.ac.uk> nmm@cl.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) writes:
>|> ...
>|> 3. G.E.P.Box and M.E.Mueller
>|>    A Note on the Generation  of Random Normal Deviates
>|>    Ann.Math.Stat. (1958) 29, 610-611
>
>Don't use this method in single precision - it has a very serious
>flaw.  While it is OK in double precision, there are faster and simpler
>methods available (e.g. the Polar Method as described in Knuth).  The
>reference for the flaw is by H.R. Neave round about 1970.
>
See H.R. Neave (1973), "On using the Box-Muller transformation with
multiplicative congruential pseudo-random number generators",
Applied Statistics 22:92-97.

In general, if you're interested in the tail-behaviour of some distribution,
be particularly careful about the method you choose for simulation.

                -- Ewart Shaw
-- 
J.E.H.Shaw,  Department of Statistics,  |  JANET:  strgh@uk.ac.warwick.cu
             University of Warwick,     |  BITNET: strgh%uk.ac.warwick.cu@UKACRL
             Coventry  CV4 7AL,  U.K.   |  PHONE:  +44 203 523069
yacc - the piece of code that understandeth all parsing
From: dmassey@sdcc3.ucsd.edu (Daniel Massey)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Operations Research
Date: 24 Jul 92 22:52:13 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of California, San Diego

I'm looking for a news group dedicated primarily to operations
research. I'm particulary interested in queueing theory and  markov
chains. Since such topics occasionally come up here, I was hoping
someone could direct me to the appropriate group.  Please send 
any response to dmassey@igrad1.ucsd.edu

Thanks,
Dan Massey
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat,comp.edu,dc.general,jhu.general
From: luke@umnstat.stat.umn.edu (Luke Tierney)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Re: XLispStat - available for MSDOS?
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:34:33 GMT
Organization: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota

In article <1992Jul28.072729.41923@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> jeff@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Jeff Bangert) writes:

...

>Thanks to Luke Tierney who said that there was no DOS version and
>suggested the Windows version.
>
>[small flame--networking is wierd sometimes!]
>
>The DOS version is at
>
>    umnstat.stat.umn.edu
>    /pub/xlispstat/msdos/XLSZIP.EXE
>
...

what I meant to say is not that there is no DOS version but that there
is no *useful* DOS verison. I compiled the one in XLSZIP.EXE with BCC
2.0's overlay facility to see if it could be done, and apparently it
can. But there isn't enough memory available for data. If you're just
using small data sets it may be OK, but with larger ones it will get a
bit frustrating.

luke
From: millere@frith.msu.edu
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Public domain stats programs
Date: 28 Jul 92 14:23:38 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Michigan State University, College of Engineering
Originator: millere@frith.egr.msu.edu

I am looking for a public domain statistical package that
will allow the importation of ascii data and run summary stats
on this (I'm hoping to eliminate the tedious data entry part.)

Does anyone know of any packages?
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
From: tgee@alfred.carleton.ca (Travis Gee)
Subject: Re: "trends" and others
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 22:24:09 GMT

In <1992Jul21.164831.6412@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> duncan@loris.cisab.indiana.edu (Shan Duncan) writes:
>I would like to know how people feel about using such words as "trend".
>For example:

>When I see the statement:
>   The data demonstrates a trend towards [fill in the blank], but this
>   relationship was not significant.
>Technically this is correct.   In other words I have been told by someone
>that you can state a direction (i.e. less, more, greater whatever) as a trend
>as long as you state if it is significant or not.  Yet at times I read this
>as being "hopeful". 

Yes, it is being hopeful, and those hopes should be augmented by a
proper power analysis. If the trend is there, but they only had a 15%
chance of detecting an effect of  size [f.i.t.b.] given their N and alpha,
then that should be a red flag indicating that replication is needed
with a more adequate sample. 

> I have seen this type of statement used when  the person
>writing the article wants to have the trend in that direction, but they did
>not achive statistical significance.  

Statistical signficance is a mode of rhetoric which we adopt, and which
reflects our willingness to risk Type I error. If the poor sap set his
alpha at .001, and got .004, then I'd gladly undertake a replication which
set more realistic risk-limits on the basis of his  'trend'. But if he
set it at .10, with 99% power, I'd tell him to jump in the lake if he
asked for funding.

>I have also seen statements such as:  There was a greater response to
>[again fill in the blank] but this was not significant.

>I am more comfortable with the former rather than the latter.

Me too..."trend" is sufficiently vague without being provocative. 

>So what are the rules of thumb in cases such as these?

 Stay with an alpha  that is  commonly accepted  in the  literature of
[f.i.t.b.]   and  accompany  statements of trend with a calculation of
1-Beta, so the reader can better judge what's happening. If somebody
talks about a trend without it, calculate it if you can before passing
too much judgement.
From: jerry@nutmeg.hnrc.tufts.edu (Jerry Dallal)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Re: random number generator
Date: 29 Jul 92 14:03:53 GMT
Organization: USDA HNRC at Tufts University

In article <1992Jul29.092934.23335@cl.cam.ac.uk>, nmm@cl.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) writes:
> 
> It's not making it a FAQ that's the problem - it's finding a GAA (Generally
> Agreed Answer)!
> 

I suspect one of the most FAQs is what generator to use.  Can we not establish
a short list of GAAs?  I nominate the Wichmann-Hill generator with the
McLeod modification.  (I hold off on posting the code until I hear whether 
this is a GAA!)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
From: hsaiah@ulys.unil.ch
Subject: SAS/Probit for mac?
Organization: University of Lausanne - CH (Switzerland)
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 17:35:51 GMT

hello,
I want to know if a version af SAS (or just the Probit part) exist for
Macintosh. is it existing other mac program doingthe same analysis as
Probit in SAS? any informations are welcome. 
thanks  bye

SAIAH henni,Institute of Zoology, Lausanne University (Switzerland)
      Email: Hsaiah@ulys.unil.ch
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
From: 129.70.31.38 (bernhard strohmeier)
Subject: Re: XLispStat - available for MSDOS?
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 13:34:44 GMT
Reply-To: 129.70.31.38 (bernhard strohmeier)
Organization: Universitaet Bielefeld

I have the version 2.1R2 (3.June 1992).
It runs on 386/486 under MS-Windows.
I do not have much experience with this newsgroup stuff.
Let me know how I can help you. 



Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
From: ALEWAND@ibm.gwdg.de
Subject: Asymptotically chi-squared?
Organization: GWDG, Goettingen
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 15:38:38 MSZ

 
Let X1,X2,.. be a sequence of k-dimensional random vectors (k>1),
t1,t2,... a sequence of real vectors with    lim tn=0,  and
        sqrt(n) (Xn-tn)
converges in distribution to the multinormal distribution  N(0,SIGMA).
 
SIGMA is idempotent with rank(SIGMA)=s and 1<=s<=k-1.
 
My conjecture is:
 
n (Transpose(Xn) Xn -Transpose(tn) tn)  is asymptotically chi-squared
with s degrees of freedom if and only if
 
Lim n Transpose(tn) tn =0  (n to infinity).
 
Is anybody able to prove (or disprove) this conjecture?
 
Thanks
 
Achim Lewandowski
Institut fuer Statistik und Oekonometrie
3400 Goettingen
Germany
email: alewand@ibm.gwdg.de
From: andrew@rentec.com (Andrew Mullhaupt)
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
Subject: Re: random number generator
Keywords: pseudo-random, C , uniform, normal
Date: 28 Jul 92 04:38:27 GMT
Organization: Renaissance Technologies Corp., Setauket, NY.

In article <1992Jul27.152841.10170@midway.uchicago.edu> thisted@galton.uchicago.edu (Ronald A. Thisted) writes:

	[umlaut for Muller removed]

Why don't we make RNG a FAQ for sci.math.stat?

Later,
Andrew Mullhaupt
Newsgroups: sci.math.stat
From: scott@mickey.acs.wmich.edu (Julie Scott)
Subject: Re: random number generator
Organization: Western Michigan University Academic Computing Services
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 15:55:28 GMT

> Alright, what the faq is a FAQ?  Would you guys please write in English
> and not in acronyms?  I've been following this thread with great
> anticipation, because I'd like to have access to a good random number
> generator.  But it's becoming difficult to figure out what you're  
talking
> about, with all the alphabet soup.  Please remember that not all who
> read this newsgroup are statisticians.  Give the rest of us poor slobs
> a break, huh?
> 
> Tony

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions and it is not a statistical  
term.  It is a "net" term that appears frequently in newsgroups and other  
computer fasciliated discussions. 

Julie
scott@mickey.acs.wmich.edu