Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 21/01/2007 05:53, K Randolph wrote:
> Peter:
>
> I'm having an intuitive reaction that something doesn't seem right
> here. I don't know enough to be able to tell what is wrong, but if the
> formula is correct, it should not be giving the obviously incorrect
> response for the resh.
>
>   
The original formula was not completely correct in that it involved some 
approximations which were not completely valid. The adjusted formula 
should be more correct, but is too complex to calculate precisely. My 
estimate of the result given by the new formula is in the same region as 
the observed figures for resh. But in fact I would be rather surprised 
to see a precise fit, for the basic assumptions I made in the 
hypothesis, that verb roots are randomly distributed with no tendency to 
avoid homonyms, seem so unlikely.

> I sent a copy of the spreadsheet with some explanatory info. to a
> friend who has a PhD in statistics, but he hasn't responded yet.
>
>   
I would be interested in any response.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/