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Re:Gravity waves from Big Bang detected by judk on Tuesday March 18, 2014 @10:39PM (#7426507)
> The probability that it arose from chance is equal to or less than 5σ

That's not what p value means. The p value is the probability that a high-variance random effect (centered around an average behavior of "nothing interesting") would yield a result as extreme as the observation, assuming that random distribution. You need Bayes theorem and highly subjective assumptons if you want to derive a posterior probability that an observed result was drawn by chance from a sample with a boring/interesting mean.

Re:Gravity waves from Big Bang detected by lutusp on Wednesday March 19, 2014 @05:25AM (#7427473)
>> The probability that it arose from chance is equal to or less than 5σ

> That's not what p value means.

Yes, I know. Verbal shorthand and some associated risk of being misinterpreted.