Page:Memory (1913).djvu/45

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The Utility of the Averages Obtained
37
Within the
limits
i.e.
within the
deviation
Number of deviations
By actual
count
Calculated
from theory
110 P.E. ± 4 4 4 .5
P.E. ± 8 7 7 .6
¼ P.E. ± 12 12 11 .3
½ P.E. ± 24 23 22 .2
P.E. ± 48 44 42 .0
1 ½ P.E. ± 72 57 57 .8
2 P.E. ± 96 68 69 .0
2 ½ P.E. ± 121 75 76 .0
3 P.E. ± 145 81 80 .0


The symmetry of distribution is here satisfactorily maintained apart from the numbers, which are unimportant on account of their smallness.


Within the
limits
Deviations
Above Below
P.E. 5 2
¼ P.E. 7 5
½ P.E. 13 10
P.E. 20 24
1 ½ P.E. 28 29
2 P.E. 34 34
2 ½ P.E. 37 38
3 P.E. 40 41


The deviation which is greatest absolutely is toward the lower limit.

If several of our series of syllables were combined into groups and then memorised separately, the length of time necessary to memorise a whole group varied greatly, to be sure, when repeated tests were taken; but, in spite of this, when taken as a whole they varied in a manner similar to that of the measures of the ideally homogeneous processes of natural science, which also vary from each other. So, at least in experimental fashion, it is allowable to use the mean values obtained from the numerical results for the various tests in order to establish the existence of causal relations just as natural science does that by means of its constants.

The number of series of syllables which is to be combined into