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Fudge factor

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121:, their arbitrariness is usually explicit. To suggest that other calculations may include a "fudge factor" may suggest that the calculation has been somehow tampered with to make results give a misleadingly good match to experimental data. 84: 137:, he found that the theory seemed to predict the gravitational collapse of the universe: it seemed that the universe should either be expanding or collapsing, and to produce a model in which the universe was 49: 145:), whose sole purpose was to cancel out the cumulative effects of gravitation. He later called this, "the biggest blunder of my life". 113:
Some quantities in scientific theory are set arbitrarily according to measured results rather than by calculation (for example, the
219: 193: 141:(which seemed to Einstein at the time to be the "proper" result), he introduced an expansionist variable (called the 186:
Einstein's Greatest Blunder?: The Cosmological Constant and Other Fudge Factors in the Physics of the Universe
134: 79:{\displaystyle \kappa _{\text{c}}={\frac {\text{experimental value}}{\text{theoretical value}}}} 209: 142: 118: 102: 90: 36: 8: 240: 159: 154: 215: 189: 164: 130: 114: 245: 234: 98: 94: 28: 39:
in order to make it fit observations or expectations. Also known as a
32: 24: 52: 207: 78: 232: 183: 211:The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone 16:Ad hoc element introduced into a calculation 124: 233: 108: 27:quantity or element introduced into a 13: 14: 257: 117:). However, in the case of these 201: 177: 133:originally tried to produce a 1: 208:Kenneth William Ford (2004), 170: 129:In theoretical physics, when 214:, Harvard University Press, 188:, Harvard University Press, 135:general theory of relativity 89:Examples include Einstein's 7: 148: 97:, the initial proposals of 10: 262: 184:Donald Goldsmith (1997), 80: 43:, which is defined by 41:correction coefficient 143:cosmological constant 125:Cosmological constant 119:fundamental constants 91:cosmological constant 81: 50: 160:Confidence interval 155:Anthropic principle 109:Examples in science 76: 69:experimental value 165:Plug (accounting) 139:static and stable 74: 73: 72:theoretical value 70: 60: 253: 225: 224: 205: 199: 198: 181: 85: 83: 82: 77: 75: 71: 68: 67: 62: 61: 58: 261: 260: 256: 255: 254: 252: 251: 250: 231: 230: 229: 228: 222: 206: 202: 196: 182: 178: 173: 151: 131:Albert Einstein 127: 115:Planck constant 111: 66: 57: 53: 51: 48: 47: 17: 12: 11: 5: 259: 249: 248: 243: 227: 226: 220: 200: 194: 175: 174: 172: 169: 168: 167: 162: 157: 150: 147: 126: 123: 110: 107: 87: 86: 65: 56: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 258: 247: 244: 242: 239: 238: 236: 223: 221:9780674037144 217: 213: 212: 204: 197: 195:9780674242425 191: 187: 180: 176: 166: 163: 161: 158: 156: 153: 152: 146: 144: 140: 136: 132: 122: 120: 116: 106: 104: 100: 96: 92: 63: 54: 46: 45: 44: 42: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 210: 203: 185: 179: 138: 128: 112: 88: 40: 21:fudge factor 20: 18: 99:dark matter 95:dark energy 29:calculation 241:Heuristics 235:Categories 171:References 103:inflation 55:κ 149:See also 33:formula 218:  192:  25:ad hoc 23:is an 246:Error 37:model 216:ISBN 190:ISBN 101:and 35:or 237:: 105:. 93:, 31:, 19:A 64:= 59:c

Index

ad hoc
calculation
formula
model
cosmological constant
dark energy
dark matter
inflation
Planck constant
fundamental constants
Albert Einstein
general theory of relativity
cosmological constant
Anthropic principle
Confidence interval
Plug (accounting)
ISBN
9780674242425
The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone
ISBN
9780674037144
Categories
Heuristics
Error

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