1. Degrees of Freedom
The number of degrees of freedom, n, equal the number of data points, N, minus the number of independent restrictions (constraints), c, used for the required calculations.
n = N - c
When computing the sample mean, n = N.
When computing the sample standard deviation, n = N - 1.
When constructing a histogram, n = K – 3, for K bins.
When using the student t distribution, n = N - 1

2. Student’s t Distribution
William Gosset, Guinness brewer and statistician, derived Student’s t distribution, publishing under the pseudonym ‘Student’ in 1908.
Student’s t distribution describes how the members of a small sample selected randomly from a normal distribution are distributed.
There are an infinite number of Student t distributions, one for each value of n, as specified by

3. Student’s t and Normal Distributions
For small n, Student’s t underestimates the normal in the center, and overestimates it on the wings
For large n, Student’s t approaches the normal.
Figure 8.6

4. t and z Comparison Difference < 1 % for n ≥ 40
Comparison of differences in
areas (probabilities) for t or z
from 0 to 5
Difference < 1 %
for n ≥ 40
Figure 8.7

5. Student’s t Table
Gives the value of t for a given n and P % confidence .
Examine P = 95 %
N = 12
>> n = N – 1 = 11
t11,95 = 2.201
What is t for N = 12 ?
Table 8.4

6. “Inverse lookup” tn,P %Pn=2 %Pn=8 %Pn=100 1 57.74 65.34 68.03 2 81.65
Sometimes, getting %P from t and n is necessary.
tn,P
%Pn=2
%Pn=8
%Pn=100 1
57.74
65.34
68.03 2
81.65
91.95
95.18 3
90.45
98.29
99.66 4
94.28
99.61
99.99
For n = ∞
68.26
95.45
99.74
Table 8.3

7. In-Class Example
What is the probability that a randomly-drawn student will score between 75 and 90 on an exam, assuming that 9 people took the exam, and the results show a mean of 60 and a standard deviation of 15 ?
t75 = (75-60)/15 = 1 and t90 = (90-60)/15 = 2
two-sided t-table for n = 8 >>
P75 = and P90 = (using Table 8.3)
>> P75 to 90 = [ – ]/2 =
previous result (normal distribution) =

8. The Standard Deviation of the Means
The standard deviation of the means (SDOM) is the standard deviation of the means determined from M sets of N samples of a population.
Figure 8.9

9. SDOM (cont’d) The SDOM allows us to estimate x' from .
It can be shown that the SDOM is related to the standard deviation of any one sample by
The SDOM follows a normal distribution centered about the mean of the mean values, even if the sampled population is not normal.

10. Statistical Inference

11. SDOM (cont’d)
The SDOM can be used to infer the true mean from the sample mean.
SDOM
Student’s t variable
Note that the sample mean approaches the true mean of the population as the sample size, N, becomes very large .