An astronomer makes three one-second measurements of a star’s brightness, counting
4 photons in the first, 81 in the second, and 9 in the third. what is the best
estimate of the average photon arrival rate and its uncertainty?
compute this (a) by using equation (2.18), then (b) by noting that a total of
94 photons have arrived in 3 seconds.
explain why these two methods give such different results. which method is the
correct one? is there anything peculiar about the data that would lead you to
question the validity of either method?
y_c = σ²∑(y_i/ σ²_i) 2.18
uncertainty
σ² = 1/∑ (1/ σ²_i