Experimental particle physicists look at data much in the same way that students will go through these Web pages. Scientists must collect and sort an enormous number of measurements whenever they run an experiment. For every interesting result, like the production of a new particle, there are often other results that come from well-understood sources. For example, each kind of particle has a characteristic mass, and it can be identified by an accumulation of that mass measurement. In other words, separate clusters or peaks on a histogram of masses reveal different particles, or possibly different energy states of the same particle.
We recommend that you try, or demonstrate, the basic page before proceeding to the advanced page. Obviously, if you are a teacher, you should work through these pages on your own before you use them in class. Their performance can vary from computer to computer. They can also slow down Netscape, or even cause it to quit, as they tax the computer's resources with continued use. Usually, restarting Netscape is sufficient to continue. Please test the page so you can anticipate these problems during a lesson.
Advanced Data Analysis - This package presents your class with a more open-ended application. It presumes experience with the basic page. More data is included. There is a teacher preparation page, a student page, a "Cut Data" histogram page, and a page of instructions for using your own data. The "Cut Data" page gives you a more authentic version of an interface for analysis. Each of the three functions of such an interface (loading data, selecting/cutting data, and graphing the results) is done in separate Netscape windows.