A Study of the Effects of Histogram Binning on the Accuracy and Precision of Particle Sizing Measurements
This paper analyzes the effectiveness of histogram binning for representing particle-sizing measurements with accuracy and precision.
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This work and derivation yielded two equations of note for a geometrically spaced histogram, one for the binning constant, cb, and one for the number of bins, k. With these equations, a conservative histogram may be constructed that has minimal effect on the accuracy and peak width of a number-weighted particle size distribution. Examples including a standard reference material and a real sample are given to show the effects of using these equations. Additionally, a sample of randomly distributed values is also analyzed, both with a traditional algorithm that lead to a discontinuous, discrete distribution, an effect known as over-binning, and the proposed equations, which lead to a continuous distribution.
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Peer-Reviewed
Submitted: March 5, 2018
Accepted: April 13, 2018
About the Author
Eric Olson is a senior research scientist-Physical and Chemical Characterization at PPD Laboratories.
Article Details
Pharmaceutical Technology
Vol. 42, No. 6
June 2018
Pages: 28–33
Citation
When referring to this article, please cite it as E. Olson, “A Study of the Effects of Histogram Binning on the Accuracy and Precision of Particle Sizing Measurements,” Pharmaceutical Technology 42 (6) 2018.
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