Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The measured side‐on intensity distribution of a cylindrical light source is always affected by statistical errors. The influence of these errors on the ABEL‐inverted radial distribution is very complex.</jats:p><jats:p>A method to smoothe the side‐on distribution by a FOURIER analysis is described. For six standard intensity profiles, the propagation of the statistical errors into the radial distribution is investigated by a large number of computer calculations. The result of these calculations allows to estimate the expected errors in the radial distribution, if the number of measured values, the standard deviation of the intensity errors, and the profile type are known.</jats:p>