This has been bugging me for a long time...

[tolbiny]

Ok so by some law a batch of hotdogs can have up to a certain % of its mixture be rat hair/feces/bone/flys. This is well known.
1. Does anyone know what that % is, i have heard from 5-15%.
2. If the max was 5 or 15% for the average hotdog, what would the highest amount realistically possible be by SD?

[gaming_mouse]

tolbiny,

you'd need empirical data on a hot-dog by hot-dog basis to estimate the SD. The central limit theorem would only apply to the batches of hot dogs themselves (and even then you'd need the per-hot-dog SD, which is what you seek to find anyway).

But you can't recover individual data from aggregate data. Think about it: If the hot dig mixture (which they mold into the individual hot dogs themselves) were thoroughly mixed, then you would expect very little variation from hot dog to hot dog. If it weren't, you might see extreme fluctuations.

Just as a guess, though, having nothing to do with mathematics, I'd say an individual hotdog is unlikely to exceed the max by more than a marginal amount.

Just spread on some extra mustard!

gm