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Old 4th July 2012, 06:25 PM   #156
Orphia Nay
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Originally Posted by edd View Post
Incidentally my jaw nearly fell off this morning when the BBC posted an article online that got it spot on - it's such a common error it's honestly astounding when the media gets it right!
Is this the article?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18702455

(This one helped me understand the sigma stuff.)

I like this part:

Quote:
They claimed that by combining two data sets, they had attained a confidence level just at the "five-sigma" point - about a one-in-3.5 million chance that the signal they see would appear if there were no Higgs particle.

However, a full combination of the CMS data brings that number just back to 4.9 sigma - a one-in-two million chance.

Prof Joe Incandela, spokesman for the CMS, was unequivocal: "The results are preliminary but the five-sigma signal at around 125 GeV we're seeing is dramatic. This is indeed a new particle," he told the Geneva meeting.
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