Skip to content

Explore Courses | Elder Research | Contact | LMS Login

Statistics.com
  • Curriculum
    • Curriculum
    • About Us
    • Testimonials
    • Management Team
    • Faculty Search
    • Teach With Us
    • Credit & Credentialing
  • Courses
    • Explore Courses
    • Course Calendar
    • About Our Courses
    • Course Tour
    • Test Yourself!
  • Mastery Series
    • Mastery Series Program
    • Bayesian Statistics
    • Business Analytics
    • Healthcare Analytics
    • Marketing Analytics
    • Operations Research
    • Predictive Analytics
    • Python for Analytics
    • R Programming
    • Rasch & IRT
    • Spatial Statistics
    • Statistical Modeling
    • Survey Statistics
    • Text Mining and Analytics
  • Certificates
    • Certificate Program
    • Analytics for Data Science
    • Biostatistics
    • Programming for Data Science – R (Novice)
    • Programming for Data Science – R (Experienced)
    • Programming for Data Science – Python (Novice)
    • Programming for Data Science – Python (Experienced)
    • Social Science
  • Degrees
    • Degree Programs
    • Computational Data Analytics Certificate of Graduate Study from Rowan University
    • Health Data Management Certificate of Graduate Study from Rowan University
    • Data Science Analytics Master’s Degree from Thomas Edison State University (TESU)
    • Data Science Analytics Bachelor’s Degree – TESU
    • Mathematics with Predictive Modeling Emphasis BS from Bellevue University
  • Enterprise
    • Organizations
    • Higher Education
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • FAQs & Knowledge Base
    • Glossary
    • Site Map
    • Statistical Symbols
    • Weekly Brief Newsletter Signup
    • Word of the Week
Menu Close
  • Curriculum
    • Curriculum
    • About Us
    • Testimonials
    • Management Team
    • Faculty Search
    • Teach With Us
    • Credit & Credentialing
  • Courses
    • Explore Courses
    • Course Calendar
    • About Our Courses
    • Course Tour
    • Test Yourself!
  • Mastery Series
    • Mastery Series Program
    • Bayesian Statistics
    • Business Analytics
    • Healthcare Analytics
    • Marketing Analytics
    • Operations Research
    • Predictive Analytics
    • Python for Analytics
    • R Programming
    • Rasch & IRT
    • Spatial Statistics
    • Statistical Modeling
    • Survey Statistics
    • Text Mining and Analytics
  • Certificates
    • Certificate Program
    • Analytics for Data Science
    • Biostatistics
    • Programming for Data Science – R (Novice)
    • Programming for Data Science – R (Experienced)
    • Programming for Data Science – Python (Novice)
    • Programming for Data Science – Python (Experienced)
    • Social Science
  • Degrees
    • Degree Programs
    • Computational Data Analytics Certificate of Graduate Study from Rowan University
    • Health Data Management Certificate of Graduate Study from Rowan University
    • Data Science Analytics Master’s Degree from Thomas Edison State University (TESU)
    • Data Science Analytics Bachelor’s Degree – TESU
    • Mathematics with Predictive Modeling Emphasis BS from Bellevue University
  • Enterprise
    • Organizations
    • Higher Education
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • FAQs & Knowledge Base
    • Glossary
    • Site Map
    • Statistical Symbols
    • Weekly Brief Newsletter Signup
    • Word of the Week

t-distribution

t-distribution

t-distribution:

A continuous distribution, with single peaked probability density symmetrical around the null value and a bell-curve shape. T-distribution is specified completely by one parameter - the number of degrees of freedom.

If X and Y are independent random variables, X has the standard normal distribution and Y - chi-square distribution with N degrees of freedom, then the random variable

Q = X   ÃƒÂ¦
Ö

 N


Y

 

has t-distribution with N degrees of freedom.

It was found by W. S. Gossett, a statistician working for Guiness (the Irish brewery), to be a good approximation to the distribution of the means of randomly drawn samples from a fixed population. Gossett published his findings in 1908 under the name "Student," hence the distribution is often called the "Student´s t." In the 1930´s, the t-distribution was also found to be a good approximation to the distribution of the difference in means of two randomly-drawn samples. (Note: the exact distribution of these differences can be derived by permuting the two samples. Before computers, when the derivation of this exact distribution was difficult or impossible to determine, the t-distribution was universally used as a substitute for the exact permutation distribution. With computer intensive methods now widely available, exact tests are increasingly used in preference to the t-distribution.)

See also: t-statistic and t-test

If the symbols do not display properly, try
the graphic version of this page

Browse Other Glossary Entries

Courses Using This Term

Return to Glossary Search

About Statistics.com

Statistics.com offers academic and professional education in statistics, analytics, and data science at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of instruction. Statistics.com is a part of Elder Research, a data science consultancy with 25 years of experience in data analytics.

Latest Blogs

  • Making Predictions Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
    February 19, 2021/
    0 Comments
  • Student Spotlight – Staci Taylor
    February 18, 2021/
    0 Comments
  • Word of the Week:  Bias
    February 1, 2021/
    0 Comments

Social Networks

Linkedin
Twitter
Facebook
Youtube

Contact

The Institute for Statistics Education
4075 Wilson Blvd, 8th Floor
Arlington, VA 22203
(571) 281-8817

ourcourses@statistics.com

© Copyright 2021 - Statistics.com, LLC | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.

Accept