Method of Calculating True Particle Size Distributions from Observed Sizes in a Thin Section

Particle size distributions obtained from a thin section are usually a skewed version of the true distribution. A previous method for determining the parent distribution was questionable because negative particle frequencies could be obtained. Here, we describe a method of determining parent distributions of spherical particles using a model with adjustable parameters. Our calculated distributions are somewhat broader than the distributions obtained with previous methods, but the average particle sizes are nearly identical. The newly developed model is applicable to any type of transmission microscopy.