News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph. Parent comment

Re:What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph by j_maffe on Saturday July 18, 2026 @08:21AM (#48957482)
You don't just fit a Gaussian distribution to a timeseries dataset. That's not what a Gaussian curve is designed for at all. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1725:_Linear_Regr...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph by khalic on Saturday July 18, 2026 @08:24AM (#48957507)
You are confusing a Probability Density Function (PDF) with a phenomenological curve fit. No one is claiming that time is a random variable drawn from a normal distribution.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph by j_maffe on Saturday July 18, 2026 @08:28AM (#48957537)
> No one is claiming that time is a random variable drawn from a normal distribution.

You are doing that implicitly by fitting a Gaussian curve.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph by khalic on Saturday July 18, 2026 @08:33AM (#48957577)
Fitting a mathematical function to a dataset does not implicitly adopt the ontological baggage of probability theory. That is a fundamental misunderstanding of applied mathematics
[ Parent | on HN ]