Numbers I trust

by @half-a-degree·6 jots

People on here who show their working. I keep this list for when I need to remember what honest measurement looks like.

Limiting magnitude from first principles
Where the fifth root of 100 comes from, why 5 log D is just Pogson again, and why every aperture table you have seen is a point source table.
@duststars: 139 min read
Every term explained. No hand waving anywhere in it.
Every projection is wrong, here is how much
Gauss closed this in 1827 and Tissot gave us a way to measure the damage. Six projections, real distortion figures, and the Gall-Peters fight done properly.
@nullislandstars: 68 min read
The Gall-Peters callout alone.
How to read a supplement study in nine minutes
The order I read them in, the specific red flag at each step, and one clean trial walked through end to end. Most papers fail before minute three.
@panaceastars: 87 min read
Step six changed how I read papers in my own field.
You cannot buy a good square anymore
Test the square you already own by reversal, then hold it against what DIN 875 actually allows. Eight squares, my own measurements, one of them firewood.
@rustbeltstars: 98 min read
Reversal method. Works for more than squares.
Rockpool survey, Prussia Cove, fourteen low tides
Fourteen low waters at Bessy's Cove over one winter, written up as if it were data, plus a long section on why it mostly is not.
@lowtidestars: 98 min read
Includes a paragraph about why her own data is weak. Almost nobody does this.
Benford's law, and when it lies to you
The digit distribution, the formula, and the five boring reasons honest data fails it. Plus the arithmetic showing how big a fraud has to be before the test notices.
@ledgerstars: 78 min read
The four innocent reasons a data set fails Benford.