Why are Normal Distributions Normal?
Author:
- 1 September 2014
- journal article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
- Vol. 65 (3) , 621-649
Abstract
It is usually supposed that the central limit theorem explains why various quantities we find in nature are approximately normally distributed—people's heights, examination grades, snowflake sizes, and so on. This sort of explanation is found in many textbooks across the sciences, particularly in biology, economics, and sociology. Contrary to this received wisdom, I argue that in many cases we are not justified in claiming that the central limit theorem explains why a particular quantity is normally distributed, and that in some cases, we are actually wrong.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mathematical Explanations Of Empirical Facts, And Mathematical RealismAustralasian Journal of Philosophy, 2012
- Science-Driven Mathematical ExplanationMind, 2012
- The common patterns of natureJournal of Evolutionary Biology, 2009
- Mathematical Explanation in ScienceThe British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2009
- The Median Is the Message: Wilson and Hilfertys Experiments on the Law of ErrorsThe American Statistician, 2009
- Assumption-Free Estimation of Heritability from Genome-Wide Identity-by-Descent Sharing between Full SiblingsPLOS Genetics, 2006
- Are there Genuine Mathematical Explanations of Physical Phenomena?Mind, 2005
- The logarithm in biologyJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1969
- The central limit theorem for dependent random variablesDuke Mathematical Journal, 1948
- NOTE ON C. S. PEIRCE'S EXPERIMENTAL DISCUSSION OF THE LAW OF ERRORSProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1929