Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 117).This thesis explores the use of correlation matrices in analyzing Monte Carlo calculations from lattice quantum chromodynamics. Correlation matrices are a powerful tool for examining many problems in which significant correlations exist, and thus offer potential advantages for lattice QCD. Several models were used to study the relative advantages of correlated and uncorrelated analyses. However, when applied to actual lattice data at current statistics, the method appears to be undesirably biased.by David Lepzelter.S.B