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Estimating the date of infection from individual response times

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

G. G. Meynell  and
Trevor Williams
G. G. Meynell
Affiliation:
Guinness-Lister Research Unit, Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chelsea Bridge Road, London, S. W. 1
Trevor Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27706, U.S.A.
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In principle, an unknown date of infection can be estimated from individual response times, provided some function of these with suitable origin is symmetrically distributed. Observed times are always skewly distributed, and either logarithm or reciprocal of time can be used to produce symmetry. Either is equally justifiable but the resulting estimates are not only very imprecise but are also inconsistent, so that neither is of practical value.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , June 1967 , pp. 131 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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