1.

3 Solutions 83

Two limiting cases

(a) t2 = ∞. We find that the number of intervals greater than any duration is
N e−at in which at = average number of events in time t. In the case
of radioactivity at time t = 0, let N = N0 .
Then the radioactive decay law becomes
N = N0 e−λt
where N is the number of surviving atoms at time t, and a = λ is the
decay constant, that is the number of decays per unit time.
(b) t1 = 0, implies that the number of events shorter than any duration t is
N0 (1 − e−at )
For radioactive decay the above equation would read for the number of
decays in time interval 0 to t.
N = N0 (1 − e−λt )

1.100 Ns = N0 − N B = 14.5 − 10 = 4.5

 
10 14.5 24.5
σs = + =
t t t

σs 5 1 24.5
= =
Ns 100 4.5 t
t = 484 min

1.101 The best values of a0 , a1 and a2 are found by the Least square fit. The residue
S is given by
6
S= (yn − a0 − a1 xn − a2 xn2 )2
n=1

Minimize the residue.

∂S
= 0, gives
∂a0
6  
yn = na0 + a1 x n + a2 xn2 (1)
n=1
∂S
= 0 gives
∂a1
   
xn yn = a0 x n + a1 xn2 + a2 xn3 (2)
∂S
= 0 gives
∂a2
   
xn2 yn = a0 xn2 + a1 xn3 + a2 xn4 (3)

Equations (1), (2) and (3) are the so-called normal equations which are to be
solved as ordinary simultaneous equations.