this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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Webb finds molecule only made by living things in another world::undefined

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[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 81 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Only a 1 sigma confirmation at the moment so needs to be thoroughly reinvestigated

[–] M500@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 year ago (13 children)
[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Sigma is basically a representation of certainty that your result isn’t a statistical fluke. It comes from standard deviation in statistics but 1 sigma is 68% certain. 2 sigma is 95%. 3 sigma is 99.7%.

By convention, astronomy uses 3 sigma for “significance,” meaning you almost definitely found something. Particle physics, since it’s usually done in controlled experiments, usually requires 5 sigma (99.99994%).

It’s similar to margin of error in political polls.

[–] cashsky@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Oh that's where 6 Sigma comes from. TIL

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