STATISTICS

AND
PROBABILIT
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 To z or not to z

STATISTICS AND
 To z or not to z

STATISTICS AND
 Illustrating the
T-Distribution

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 According to the Central Limit Theorem, the sampling
distribution of a statistic (like a sample mean, 𝑥̅) will follow
a normal distribution, as long as the sample size (𝑛) is
sufficiently large. Therefore, when we know the standard
deviation of the population, we can compute a z-score and
use the normal distribution to evaluate probabilities with the
sample mean.

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 But sample sizes are sometimes small, and often we do
not know the standard deviation of the population. When
either of these problems occurs, the solution is to use a
different distribution.

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Student’s T-Distribution

The Student’s t-distribution is a probability distribution that

is used to estimate population parameters when the sample size is
small (𝑖. 𝑒. 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒 < 30) and/or when the population
variance is unknown.

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Student’s T-Distribution

- William Sealy Gosset in 1908

- He used the pseudonym or pen name
“Student”
- worked at a brewery and was interested in
the problems of small samples, for
example, the chemical properties of
barley

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Normally distributed Single observation
𝑛=1

𝑥=𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛
𝜇=𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛
𝜎 =𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑑 .
𝑛=𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒

STATISTICS AND
What if the population standard deviation is unknown?

To estimate
𝑥 − 𝜇 𝑥 − 𝜇
𝜎 𝑠
√ 𝑛 √ 𝑛

Where s is the “sample”

standard deviation
STATISTICS AND
T-distribution

- The quantity has n – 1 degrees of freedom ( df ).

- The number of degrees of freedom is one less than the sample
size

Ex. If the sample size is 15, the df is 14. Similarly if the degree
of freedom is 24, the sample size is 25.
STATISTICS AND
 Degrees of freedom ( df ).

- the number of independent pieces of information needed to

calculate something. This term also refers to the number of
free choices left after a sample statistic such as is calculated.
Ex.
𝑑𝑓 =𝑛− 1 for single group
for two groups

Where are the sample sizes

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T-distribution

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Properties of T-distribution
1. The t-distribution is symmetrical about 0.

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Properties of T-distribution
2. The t-distribution is bell-shaped like the normal distribution but
has heavier tails.

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Properties of T-distribution
3. The mean, median, and mode of the t-distribution are all equal
to zero.

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Properties of T-distribution

4. The variance is always greater than 1. It is equal to where 𝑣 is

the number of degrees of freedom. As the number of degrees
of freedom increases and approaches infinity, the variance
approaches 1. Using the formula, if the number of degrees of
freedom is 10, the variance is

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Properties of T-distribution

5. As the degrees of freedom increase, the t-distribution

curve looks more and more like the normal distribution. With
infinite degrees of freedom, t-distribution is the same as the
normal distribution.

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Properties of T-distribution

6. The standard deviation of the t-distribution varies with the

sample size. It is always greater than 1. Unlike the normal
distribution, which has a standard deviation of 1.

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Properties of T-distribution

7. The total area under a t-distribution curve is 1 or 100%. One

can say that the area under the t-distribution curve
represents the probability or the percentage associated with
specific sets of t-values.

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Real Life Application Challenge
1. Make a Venn diagram showing the comparison of the t-
distribution and normal distribution. List down the
characteristics or properties of the two distributions on the
spaces provided.

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Real Life Application Challenge

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Real Life Application Challenge
2.

- When is 𝑡-distribution appropriate in a statistical study?

- Why is the knowledge about 𝑡-distribution important in

research?

- How do you identify the regions under the 𝑡-distribution using

the 𝑡-values?

STATISTICS AND
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