2009/7/19 James Courtier-Dutton <james.dut...@gmail.com>: > To get a MTBF figure: > Approx MTBF = ( Number of Devices tested * Test time ) / Number of failures.
As ever, that is not always the case. I used to work for an aerospace company, and they would quote MTBF before one sample had even been built, let alone tested to failure. In that case, the MTBF was calculated based on some rules. I don't know the details but I do remember that number of components were a key variable. Therefore the pumps they made were designed to have a few parts as possible. The MTBF number was therefore a result of some clever work by statisticians. I would not be surprised if that is the case here. No doubt a marketing guy has seen a nice big number written and decided to use that in marketing the product. In reality, it probably means very little, just at the watts quoted on stereo's and vacuum cleaners bares little to the actual real world performance. -- Philip Stubbs -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
