Figure 7.

Approximations of the standard deviation ${\sigma }_{{\hat{N}}_0}=\text{Var}{\left[{\hat{N}}_0\right]}^{1/2}$ of MLEs for the plaque assay using Eq. 17 and parameters ${\hat{N}}_0={10}^5$, 10⁶, and 10⁷, M = 3 × 10⁵, d_c = 4, d_max = 7, and T = 3, corresponding to the assay displayed in Fig. 5. (a) For D = 10, the standard deviation increases proportional to the square root of Q. (b) For Q = 1, we can see a low dilution factor D will increase the accuracy of the estimate ${\hat{N}}_0$. To see this figure in color, go online.