Estimating the standard deviation for222Rn scintillation counting — a note concerning the paper by Sarmiento et al.

In a recent report Sarmiento et al. (1976) presented a method for estimating the statistical error associated with²²²Rn scintillation counting. Because of certain approximations, the method is less accurate than that of an earlier work by Lucas and Woodward (1964). We have compared the Sarmiento method and the Lucas method, and determined the magnitude of errors incurred using the approximations. For counting times greater than 300 minutes, the disadvantage of the slight inaccuracies of the Sarmiento method are outweighed by the advantage of easier calculation.