M&D - chapter 19-21 - The Calendar (personal equation)

[Elisabeth Romberg]

Edwin G. Boring, lol. Anyways, thanks for bringing this quote to light, it IS an intriguing expression!

> 2. apr. 2015 kl. 23.35 skrev Jerome Park <jeromepark3141 at gmail.com>:
> 
> I don't know if others are familiar with this book, so...
> 
> an excerpt here----> 
> 
> An excerpt from
> 
> A Tenth of a Second
> 
> A History
> 
> Jimena Canales
> 
> http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/093185.html <http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/093185.html>
> 
> An astronomer might say “because of the personal equation,” referring to the worrisome fact that different individuals differed in their timing of star transits. Referring to two well-known astronomers, the famous historian of psychology Edwin G. Boring explained the meaning of the term: “The equation, ‘A − S = 0.202 sec.,’ means that on average [the astronomer] Argelander observed transits 0.202 sec. later than [the astronomer] Struve.” While the relative personal equation compared two observers against each other, the absolute personal equation compared one observer’s timing of an event against the time as determined by a machine. It again took the shape of an equation, where a single number was assigned to a particular person. A personal equation is rarely exactly a tenth of a second; its value tends to oscillate between one to a few tenths of a second. It is often much more than an equation, since the intriguing term is often used in various literary ways.

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