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			782 lines
		
	
	
		
			32 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Plaintext
		
	
	
	
	
	
| 
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| [section:st_eg Student's t Distribution Examples]
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| 
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| [section:tut_mean_intervals Calculating confidence intervals on the mean with the Students-t distribution]
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| 
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| Let's say you have a sample mean, you may wish to know what confidence intervals
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| you can place on that mean.  Colloquially: "I want an interval that I can be
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| P% sure contains the true mean".  (On a technical point, note that
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| the interval either contains the true mean or it does not: the
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| meaning of the confidence level is subtly
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| different from this colloquialism.  More background information can be found on the
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda352.htm NIST site]).
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| 
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| The formula for the interval can be expressed as:
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| 
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| [equation dist_tutorial4]
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| 
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| Where, ['Y[sub s]] is the sample mean, /s/ is the sample standard deviation,
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| /N/ is the sample size, /[alpha]/ is the desired significance level and
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| ['t[sub ([alpha]/2,N-1)]] is the upper critical value of the Students-t
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| distribution with /N-1/ degrees of freedom.
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| 
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| [note
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| The quantity [alpha][space] is the maximum acceptable risk of falsely rejecting
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| the null-hypothesis.  The smaller the value of [alpha] the greater the
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| strength of the test.
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| 
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| The confidence level of the test is defined as 1 - [alpha], and often expressed
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| as a percentage.  So for example a significance level of 0.05, is equivalent
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| to a 95% confidence level.  Refer to
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/prc/section1/prc14.htm
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| "What are confidence intervals?"] in __handbook for more information.
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| ] [/ Note]
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| 
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| [note
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| The usual assumptions of
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| [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_and_identically-distributed_random_variables independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.)]
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| variables and [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution normal distribution]
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| of course apply here, as they do in other examples.
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| ]
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| 
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| From the formula, it should be clear that:
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| 
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| * The width of the confidence interval decreases as the sample size increases.
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| * The width increases as the standard deviation increases.
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| * The width increases as the ['confidence level increases] (0.5 towards 0.99999 - stronger).
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| * The width increases as the ['significance level decreases] (0.5 towards 0.00000...01 - stronger).
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| 
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| The following example code is taken from the example program
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| [@../../example/students_t_single_sample.cpp students_t_single_sample.cpp].
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| 
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| We'll begin by defining a procedure to calculate intervals for
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| various confidence levels; the procedure will print these out
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| as a table:
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| 
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|    // Needed includes:
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|    #include <boost/math/distributions/students_t.hpp>
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|    #include <iostream>
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|    #include <iomanip>
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|    // Bring everything into global namespace for ease of use:
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|    using namespace boost::math;
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|    using namespace std;
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| 
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|    void confidence_limits_on_mean(
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|       double Sm,           // Sm = Sample Mean.
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|       double Sd,           // Sd = Sample Standard Deviation.
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|       unsigned Sn)         // Sn = Sample Size.
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|    {
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|       using namespace std;
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|       using namespace boost::math;
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| 
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|       // Print out general info:
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|       cout <<
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|          "__________________________________\n"
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|          "2-Sided Confidence Limits For Mean\n"
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|          "__________________________________\n\n";
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|       cout << setprecision(7);
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|       cout << setw(40) << left << "Number of Observations" << "=  " << Sn << "\n";
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|       cout << setw(40) << left << "Mean" << "=  " << Sm << "\n";
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|       cout << setw(40) << left << "Standard Deviation" << "=  " << Sd << "\n";
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| 
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| We'll define a table of significance/risk levels for which we'll compute intervals:
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| 
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|       double alpha[] = { 0.5, 0.25, 0.1, 0.05, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001, 0.00001 };
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| 
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| Note that these are the complements of the confidence/probability levels: 0.5, 0.75, 0.9 .. 0.99999).
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| 
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| Next we'll declare the distribution object we'll need, note that
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| the /degrees of freedom/ parameter is the sample size less one:
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| 
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|       students_t dist(Sn - 1);
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| 
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| Most of what follows in the program is pretty printing, so let's focus
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| on the calculation of the interval. First we need the t-statistic,
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| computed using the /quantile/ function and our significance level.  Note
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| that since the significance levels are the complement of the probability,
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| we have to wrap the arguments in a call to /complement(...)/:
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| 
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|    double T = quantile(complement(dist, alpha[i] / 2));
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| 
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| Note that alpha was divided by two, since we'll be calculating
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| both the upper and lower bounds: had we been interested in a single
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| sided interval then we would have omitted this step.
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| 
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| Now to complete the picture, we'll get the (one-sided) width of the
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| interval from the t-statistic
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| by multiplying by the standard deviation, and dividing by the square
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| root of the sample size:
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| 
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|    double w = T * Sd / sqrt(double(Sn));
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| 
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| The two-sided interval is then the sample mean plus and minus this width.
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| 
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| And apart from some more pretty-printing that completes the procedure.
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| 
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| Let's take a look at some sample output, first using the
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section4/eda428.htm
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| Heat flow data] from the NIST site.  The data set was collected
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| by Bob Zarr of NIST in January, 1990 from a heat flow meter
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| calibration and stability analysis.
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| The corresponding dataplot
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| output for this test can be found in
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda352.htm
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| section 3.5.2] of the __handbook.
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| 
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| [pre'''
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|    __________________________________
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|    2-Sided Confidence Limits For Mean
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|    __________________________________
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| 
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|    Number of Observations                  =  195
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|    Mean                                    =  9.26146
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|    Standard Deviation                      =  0.02278881
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| 
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| 
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|    ___________________________________________________________________
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|    Confidence       T           Interval          Lower          Upper
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|     Value (%)     Value          Width            Limit          Limit
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|    ___________________________________________________________________
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|        50.000     0.676       1.103e-003        9.26036        9.26256
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|        75.000     1.154       1.883e-003        9.25958        9.26334
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|        90.000     1.653       2.697e-003        9.25876        9.26416
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|        95.000     1.972       3.219e-003        9.25824        9.26468
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|        99.000     2.601       4.245e-003        9.25721        9.26571
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|        99.900     3.341       5.453e-003        9.25601        9.26691
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|        99.990     3.973       6.484e-003        9.25498        9.26794
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|        99.999     4.537       7.404e-003        9.25406        9.26886
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| ''']
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| 
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| As you can see the large sample size (195) and small standard deviation (0.023)
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| have combined to give very small intervals, indeed we can be
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| very confident that the true mean is 9.2.
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| 
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| For comparison the next example data output is taken from
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| ['P.K.Hou, O. W. Lau & M.C. Wong, Analyst (1983) vol. 108, p 64.
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| and from Statistics for Analytical Chemistry, 3rd ed. (1994), pp 54-55
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| J. C. Miller and J. N. Miller, Ellis Horwood ISBN 0 13 0309907.]
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| The values result from the determination of mercury by cold-vapour
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| atomic absorption.
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| 
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| [pre'''
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|    __________________________________
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|    2-Sided Confidence Limits For Mean
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|    __________________________________
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| 
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|    Number of Observations                  =  3
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|    Mean                                    =  37.8000000
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|    Standard Deviation                      =  0.9643650
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| 
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| 
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|    ___________________________________________________________________
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|    Confidence       T           Interval          Lower          Upper
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|     Value (%)     Value          Width            Limit          Limit
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|    ___________________________________________________________________
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|        50.000     0.816            0.455       37.34539       38.25461
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|        75.000     1.604            0.893       36.90717       38.69283
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|        90.000     2.920            1.626       36.17422       39.42578
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|        95.000     4.303            2.396       35.40438       40.19562
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|        99.000     9.925            5.526       32.27408       43.32592
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|        99.900    31.599           17.594       20.20639       55.39361
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|        99.990    99.992           55.673      -17.87346       93.47346
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|        99.999   316.225          176.067     -138.26683      213.86683
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| ''']
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| 
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| This time the fact that there are only three measurements leads to
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| much wider intervals, indeed such large intervals that it's hard
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| to be very confident in the location of the mean.
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| 
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| [endsect]
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| 
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| [section:tut_mean_test Testing a sample mean for difference from a "true" mean]
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| 
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| When calibrating or comparing a scientific instrument or measurement method of some kind,
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| we want to be answer the question "Does an observed sample mean differ from the
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| "true" mean in any significant way?".  If it does, then we have evidence of
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| a systematic difference.  This question can be answered with a Students-t test:
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| more information can be found
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda352.htm
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| on the NIST site].
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| 
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| Of course, the assignment of "true" to one mean may be quite arbitrary,
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| often this is simply a "traditional" method of measurement.
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| 
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| The following example code is taken from the example program
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| [@../../example/students_t_single_sample.cpp students_t_single_sample.cpp].
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| 
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| We'll begin by defining a procedure to determine which of the
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| possible hypothesis are rejected or not-rejected
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| at a given significance level:
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| 
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| [note
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| Non-statisticians might say 'not-rejected' means 'accepted',
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| (often of the null-hypothesis) implying, wrongly, that there really *IS* no difference,
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| but statisticans eschew this to avoid implying that there is positive evidence of 'no difference'.
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| 'Not-rejected' here means there is *no evidence* of difference, but there still might well be a difference.
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| For example, see [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_ignorance argument from ignorance] and
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| [@http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/311/7003/485 Absence of evidence does not constitute evidence of absence.]
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| ] [/ note]
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| 
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| 
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|    // Needed includes:
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|    #include <boost/math/distributions/students_t.hpp>
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|    #include <iostream>
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|    #include <iomanip>
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|    // Bring everything into global namespace for ease of use:
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|    using namespace boost::math;
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|    using namespace std;
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| 
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|    void single_sample_t_test(double M, double Sm, double Sd, unsigned Sn, double alpha)
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|    {
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|       //
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|       // M = true mean.
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|       // Sm = Sample Mean.
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|       // Sd = Sample Standard Deviation.
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|       // Sn = Sample Size.
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|       // alpha = Significance Level.
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| 
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| Most of the procedure is pretty-printing, so let's just focus on the
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| calculation, we begin by calculating the t-statistic:
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| 
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|    // Difference in means:
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|    double diff = Sm - M;
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|    // Degrees of freedom:
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|    unsigned v = Sn - 1;
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|    // t-statistic:
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|    double t_stat = diff * sqrt(double(Sn)) / Sd;
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| 
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| Finally calculate the probability from the t-statistic. If we're interested
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| in simply whether there is a difference (either less or greater) or not,
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| we don't care about the sign of the t-statistic,
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| and we take the complement of the probability for comparison
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| to the significance level:
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| 
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|    students_t dist(v);
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|    double q = cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t_stat)));
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| 
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| The procedure then prints out the results of the various tests
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| that can be done, these
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| can be summarised in the following table:
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| 
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| [table
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| [[Hypothesis][Test]]
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| [[The Null-hypothesis: there is
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| *no difference* in means]
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| [Reject if complement of CDF for |t| < significance level / 2:
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| 
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| `cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t))) < alpha / 2`]]
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| 
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| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: there
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| *is difference* in means]
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| [Reject if complement of CDF for |t| > significance level / 2:
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| 
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| `cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t))) > alpha / 2`]]
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| 
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| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: the sample mean *is less* than
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| the true mean.]
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| [Reject if CDF of t > 1 - significance level:
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| 
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| `cdf(complement(dist, t)) < alpha`]]
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| 
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| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: the sample mean *is greater* than
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| the true mean.]
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| [Reject if complement of CDF of t < significance level:
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| 
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| `cdf(dist, t) < alpha`]]
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| ]
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| 
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| [note
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| Notice that the comparisons are against `alpha / 2` for a two-sided test
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| and against `alpha` for a one-sided test]
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| 
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| Now that we have all the parts in place, let's take a look at some
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| sample output, first using the
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| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section4/eda428.htm
 | |
| Heat flow data] from the NIST site.  The data set was collected
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| by Bob Zarr of NIST in January, 1990 from a heat flow meter
 | |
| calibration and stability analysis.  The corresponding dataplot
 | |
| output for this test can be found in
 | |
| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda352.htm
 | |
| section 3.5.2] of the __handbook.
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| 
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| [pre
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| __________________________________
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| Student t test for a single sample
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| __________________________________
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| 
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| Number of Observations                                 =  195
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| Sample Mean                                            =  9.26146
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| Sample Standard Deviation                              =  0.02279
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| Expected True Mean                                     =  5.00000
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| 
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| Sample Mean - Expected Test Mean                       =  4.26146
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| Degrees of Freedom                                     =  194
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| T Statistic                                            =  2611.28380
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| Probability that difference is due to chance           =  0.000e+000
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| 
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| Results for Alternative Hypothesis and alpha           =  0.0500
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| 
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| Alternative Hypothesis     Conclusion
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| Mean != 5.000            NOT REJECTED
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| Mean  < 5.000            REJECTED
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| Mean  > 5.000            NOT REJECTED
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| ]
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| 
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| You will note the line that says the probability that the difference is
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| due to chance is zero.  From a philosophical point of view, of course,
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| the probability can never reach zero.  However, in this case the calculated
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| probability is smaller than the smallest representable double precision number,
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| hence the appearance of a zero here.  Whatever its "true" value is, we know it
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| must be extraordinarily small, so the alternative hypothesis - that there is
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| a difference in means - is not rejected.
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| 
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| For comparison the next example data output is taken from
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| ['P.K.Hou, O. W. Lau & M.C. Wong, Analyst (1983) vol. 108, p 64.
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| and from Statistics for Analytical Chemistry, 3rd ed. (1994), pp 54-55
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| J. C. Miller and J. N. Miller, Ellis Horwood ISBN 0 13 0309907.]
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| The values result from the determination of mercury by cold-vapour
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| atomic absorption.
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| 
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| [pre
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| __________________________________
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| Student t test for a single sample
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| __________________________________
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| 
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| Number of Observations                                 =  3
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| Sample Mean                                            =  37.80000
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| Sample Standard Deviation                              =  0.96437
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| Expected True Mean                                     =  38.90000
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| 
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| Sample Mean - Expected Test Mean                       =  -1.10000
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| Degrees of Freedom                                     =  2
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| T Statistic                                            =  -1.97566
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| Probability that difference is due to chance           =  1.869e-001
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| 
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| Results for Alternative Hypothesis and alpha           =  0.0500
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| 
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| Alternative Hypothesis     Conclusion
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| Mean != 38.900            REJECTED
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| Mean  < 38.900            NOT REJECTED
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| Mean  > 38.900            NOT REJECTED
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| ]
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| 
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| As you can see the small number of measurements (3) has led to a large uncertainty
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| in the location of the true mean.  So even though there appears to be a difference
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| between the sample mean and the expected true mean, we conclude that there
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| is no significant difference, and are unable to reject the null hypothesis.
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| However, if we were to lower the bar for acceptance down to alpha = 0.1
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| (a 90% confidence level) we see a different output:
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| 
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| [pre
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| __________________________________
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| Student t test for a single sample
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| __________________________________
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| 
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| Number of Observations                                 =  3
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| Sample Mean                                            =  37.80000
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| Sample Standard Deviation                              =  0.96437
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| Expected True Mean                                     =  38.90000
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| 
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| Sample Mean - Expected Test Mean                       =  -1.10000
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| Degrees of Freedom                                     =  2
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| T Statistic                                            =  -1.97566
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| Probability that difference is due to chance           =  1.869e-001
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| 
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| Results for Alternative Hypothesis and alpha           =  0.1000
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| 
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| Alternative Hypothesis     Conclusion
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| Mean != 38.900            REJECTED
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| Mean  < 38.900            NOT REJECTED
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| Mean  > 38.900            REJECTED
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| ]
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| 
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| In this case, we really have a borderline result,
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| and more data (and/or more accurate data),
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| is needed for a more convincing conclusion.
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| 
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| [endsect]
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| 
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| [section:tut_mean_size Estimating how large a sample size would have to become
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| in order to give a significant Students-t test result with a single sample test]
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| 
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| Imagine you have conducted a Students-t test on a single sample in order
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| to check for systematic errors in your measurements.  Imagine that the
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| result is borderline.  At this point one might go off and collect more data,
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| but it might be prudent to first ask the question "How much more?".
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| The parameter estimators of the students_t_distribution class
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| can provide this information.
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| 
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| This section is based on the example code in
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| [@../../example/students_t_single_sample.cpp students_t_single_sample.cpp]
 | |
| and we begin by defining a procedure that will print out a table of
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| estimated sample sizes for various confidence levels:
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| 
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|    // Needed includes:
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|    #include <boost/math/distributions/students_t.hpp>
 | |
|    #include <iostream>
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|    #include <iomanip>
 | |
|    // Bring everything into global namespace for ease of use:
 | |
|    using namespace boost::math;
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|    using namespace std;
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| 
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|    void single_sample_find_df(
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|       double M,          // M = true mean.
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|       double Sm,         // Sm = Sample Mean.
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|       double Sd)         // Sd = Sample Standard Deviation.
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|    {
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| 
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| Next we define a table of significance levels:
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| 
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|       double alpha[] = { 0.5, 0.25, 0.1, 0.05, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001, 0.00001 };
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| 
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| Printing out the table of sample sizes required for various confidence levels
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| begins with the table header:
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| 
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|       cout << "\n\n"
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|               "_______________________________________________________________\n"
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|               "Confidence       Estimated          Estimated\n"
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|               " Value (%)      Sample Size        Sample Size\n"
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|               "              (one sided test)    (two sided test)\n"
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|               "_______________________________________________________________\n";
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| 
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| 
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| And now the important part: the sample sizes required.  Class
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| `students_t_distribution` has a static member function
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| `find_degrees_of_freedom` that will calculate how large
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| a sample size needs to be in order to give a definitive result.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The first argument is the difference between the means that you
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| wish to be able to detect, here it's the absolute value of the
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| difference between the sample mean, and the true mean.
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| 
 | |
| Then come two probability values: alpha and beta.  Alpha is the
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| maximum acceptable risk of rejecting the null-hypothesis when it is
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| in fact true.  Beta is the maximum acceptable risk of failing to reject
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| the null-hypothesis when in fact it is false.
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| Also note that for a two-sided test, alpha must be divided by 2.
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| 
 | |
| The final parameter of the function is the standard deviation of the sample.
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| 
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| In this example, we assume that alpha and beta are the same, and call
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| `find_degrees_of_freedom` twice: once with alpha for a one-sided test,
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| and once with alpha/2 for a two-sided test.
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| 
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|       for(unsigned i = 0; i < sizeof(alpha)/sizeof(alpha[0]); ++i)
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|       {
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|          // Confidence value:
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|          cout << fixed << setprecision(3) << setw(10) << right << 100 * (1-alpha[i]);
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|          // calculate df for single sided test:
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|          double df = students_t::find_degrees_of_freedom(
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|             fabs(M - Sm), alpha[i], alpha[i], Sd);
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|          // convert to sample size:
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|          double size = ceil(df) + 1;
 | |
|          // Print size:
 | |
|          cout << fixed << setprecision(0) << setw(16) << right << size;
 | |
|          // calculate df for two sided test:
 | |
|          df = students_t::find_degrees_of_freedom(
 | |
|             fabs(M - Sm), alpha[i]/2, alpha[i], Sd);
 | |
|          // convert to sample size:
 | |
|          size = ceil(df) + 1;
 | |
|          // Print size:
 | |
|          cout << fixed << setprecision(0) << setw(16) << right << size << endl;
 | |
|       }
 | |
|       cout << endl;
 | |
|    }
 | |
| 
 | |
| Let's now look at some sample output using data taken from
 | |
| ['P.K.Hou, O. W. Lau & M.C. Wong, Analyst (1983) vol. 108, p 64.
 | |
| and from Statistics for Analytical Chemistry, 3rd ed. (1994), pp 54-55
 | |
| J. C. Miller and J. N. Miller, Ellis Horwood ISBN 0 13 0309907.]
 | |
| The values result from the determination of mercury by cold-vapour
 | |
| atomic absorption.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Only three measurements were made, and the Students-t test above
 | |
| gave a borderline result, so this example
 | |
| will show us how many samples would need to be collected:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [pre'''
 | |
| _____________________________________________________________
 | |
| Estimated sample sizes required for various confidence levels
 | |
| _____________________________________________________________
 | |
| 
 | |
| True Mean                               =  38.90000
 | |
| Sample Mean                             =  37.80000
 | |
| Sample Standard Deviation               =  0.96437
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| _______________________________________________________________
 | |
| Confidence       Estimated          Estimated
 | |
|  Value (%)      Sample Size        Sample Size
 | |
|               (one sided test)    (two sided test)
 | |
| _______________________________________________________________
 | |
|     75.000               3               4
 | |
|     90.000               7               9
 | |
|     95.000              11              13
 | |
|     99.000              20              22
 | |
|     99.900              35              37
 | |
|     99.990              50              53
 | |
|     99.999              66              68
 | |
| ''']
 | |
| 
 | |
| So in this case, many more measurements would have had to be made,
 | |
| for example at the 95% level, 14 measurements in total for a two-sided test.
 | |
| 
 | |
| [endsect]
 | |
| [section:two_sample_students_t Comparing the means of two samples with the Students-t test]
 | |
| 
 | |
| Imagine that we have two samples, and we wish to determine whether
 | |
| their means are different or not.  This situation often arises when
 | |
| determining whether a new process or treatment is better than an old one.
 | |
| 
 | |
| In this example, we'll be using the
 | |
| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda3531.htm
 | |
| Car Mileage sample data] from the
 | |
| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov NIST website].  The data compares
 | |
| miles per gallon of US cars with miles per gallon of Japanese cars.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The sample code is in
 | |
| [@../../example/students_t_two_samples.cpp students_t_two_samples.cpp].
 | |
| 
 | |
| There are two ways in which this test can be conducted: we can assume
 | |
| that the true standard deviations of the two samples are equal or not.
 | |
| If the standard deviations are assumed to be equal, then the calculation
 | |
| of the t-statistic is greatly simplified, so we'll examine that case first.
 | |
| In real life we should verify whether this assumption is valid with a
 | |
| Chi-Squared test for equal variances.
 | |
| 
 | |
| We begin by defining a procedure that will conduct our test assuming equal
 | |
| variances:
 | |
| 
 | |
|    // Needed headers:
 | |
|    #include <boost/math/distributions/students_t.hpp>
 | |
|    #include <iostream>
 | |
|    #include <iomanip>
 | |
|    // Simplify usage:
 | |
|    using namespace boost::math;
 | |
|    using namespace std;
 | |
| 
 | |
|    void two_samples_t_test_equal_sd(
 | |
|            double Sm1,       // Sm1 = Sample 1 Mean.
 | |
|            double Sd1,       // Sd1 = Sample 1 Standard Deviation.
 | |
|            unsigned Sn1,     // Sn1 = Sample 1 Size.
 | |
|            double Sm2,       // Sm2 = Sample 2 Mean.
 | |
|            double Sd2,       // Sd2 = Sample 2 Standard Deviation.
 | |
|            unsigned Sn2,     // Sn2 = Sample 2 Size.
 | |
|            double alpha)     // alpha = Significance Level.
 | |
|    {
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| Our procedure will begin by calculating the t-statistic, assuming
 | |
| equal variances the needed formulae are:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [equation dist_tutorial1]
 | |
| 
 | |
| where Sp is the "pooled" standard deviation of the two samples,
 | |
| and /v/ is the number of degrees of freedom of the two combined
 | |
| samples.  We can now write the code to calculate the t-statistic:
 | |
| 
 | |
|    // Degrees of freedom:
 | |
|    double v = Sn1 + Sn2 - 2;
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "Degrees of Freedom" << "=  " << v << "\n";
 | |
|    // Pooled variance:
 | |
|    double sp = sqrt(((Sn1-1) * Sd1 * Sd1 + (Sn2-1) * Sd2 * Sd2) / v);
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "Pooled Standard Deviation" << "=  " << sp << "\n";
 | |
|    // t-statistic:
 | |
|    double t_stat = (Sm1 - Sm2) / (sp * sqrt(1.0 / Sn1 + 1.0 / Sn2));
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "T Statistic" << "=  " << t_stat << "\n";
 | |
| 
 | |
| The next step is to define our distribution object, and calculate the
 | |
| complement of the probability:
 | |
| 
 | |
|    students_t dist(v);
 | |
|    double q = cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t_stat)));
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "Probability that difference is due to chance" << "=  "
 | |
|       << setprecision(3) << scientific << 2 * q << "\n\n";
 | |
| 
 | |
| Here we've used the absolute value of the t-statistic, because we initially
 | |
| want to know simply whether there is a difference or not (a two-sided test).
 | |
| However, we can also test whether the mean of the second sample is greater
 | |
| or is less (one-sided test) than that of the first:
 | |
| all the possible tests are summed up in the following table:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [table
 | |
| [[Hypothesis][Test]]
 | |
| [[The Null-hypothesis: there is
 | |
| *no difference* in means]
 | |
| [Reject if complement of CDF for |t| < significance level / 2:
 | |
| 
 | |
| `cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t))) < alpha / 2`]]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: there is a
 | |
| *difference* in means]
 | |
| [Reject if complement of CDF for |t| > significance level / 2:
 | |
| 
 | |
| `cdf(complement(dist, fabs(t))) < alpha / 2`]]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: Sample 1 Mean is *less* than
 | |
| Sample 2 Mean.]
 | |
| [Reject if CDF of t > significance level:
 | |
| 
 | |
| `cdf(dist, t) > alpha`]]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [[The Alternative-hypothesis: Sample 1 Mean is *greater* than
 | |
| Sample 2 Mean.]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [Reject if complement of CDF of t > significance level:
 | |
| 
 | |
| `cdf(complement(dist, t)) > alpha`]]
 | |
| ]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [note
 | |
| For a two-sided test we must compare against alpha / 2 and not alpha.]
 | |
| 
 | |
| Most of the rest of the sample program is pretty-printing, so we'll
 | |
| skip over that, and take a look at the sample output for alpha=0.05
 | |
| (a 95% probability level).  For comparison the dataplot output
 | |
| for the same data is in
 | |
| [@http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda353.htm
 | |
| section 1.3.5.3] of the __handbook.
 | |
| 
 | |
| [pre'''
 | |
|    ________________________________________________
 | |
|    Student t test for two samples (equal variances)
 | |
|    ________________________________________________
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Number of Observations (Sample 1)                      =  249
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean                                          =  20.145
 | |
|    Sample 1 Standard Deviation                            =  6.4147
 | |
|    Number of Observations (Sample 2)                      =  79
 | |
|    Sample 2 Mean                                          =  30.481
 | |
|    Sample 2 Standard Deviation                            =  6.1077
 | |
|    Degrees of Freedom                                     =  326
 | |
|    Pooled Standard Deviation                              =  6.3426
 | |
|    T Statistic                                            =  -12.621
 | |
|    Probability that difference is due to chance           =  5.273e-030
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Results for Alternative Hypothesis and alpha           =  0.0500'''
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Alternative Hypothesis              Conclusion
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean != Sample 2 Mean       NOT REJECTED
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean <  Sample 2 Mean       NOT REJECTED
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean >  Sample 2 Mean       REJECTED
 | |
| ]
 | |
| 
 | |
| So with a probability that the difference is due to chance of just
 | |
| 5.273e-030, we can safely conclude that there is indeed a difference.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The tests on the alternative hypothesis show that we must
 | |
| also reject the hypothesis that Sample 1 Mean is
 | |
| greater than that for Sample 2: in this case Sample 1 represents the
 | |
| miles per gallon for Japanese cars, and Sample 2 the miles per gallon for
 | |
| US cars, so we conclude that Japanese cars are on average more
 | |
| fuel efficient.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Now that we have the simple case out of the way, let's look for a moment
 | |
| at the more complex one: that the standard deviations of the two samples
 | |
| are not equal.  In this case the formula for the t-statistic becomes:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [equation dist_tutorial2]
 | |
| 
 | |
| And for the combined degrees of freedom we use the
 | |
| [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welch-Satterthwaite_equation Welch-Satterthwaite]
 | |
| approximation:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [equation dist_tutorial3]
 | |
| 
 | |
| Note that this is one of the rare situations where the degrees-of-freedom
 | |
| parameter to the Student's t distribution is a real number, and not an
 | |
| integer value.
 | |
| 
 | |
| [note
 | |
| Some statistical packages truncate the effective degrees of freedom to
 | |
| an integer value: this may be necessary if you are relying on lookup tables,
 | |
| but since our code fully supports non-integer degrees of freedom there is no
 | |
| need to truncate in this case.  Also note that when the degrees of freedom
 | |
| is small then the Welch-Satterthwaite approximation may be a significant
 | |
| source of error.]
 | |
| 
 | |
| Putting these formulae into code we get:
 | |
| 
 | |
|    // Degrees of freedom:
 | |
|    double v = Sd1 * Sd1 / Sn1 + Sd2 * Sd2 / Sn2;
 | |
|    v *= v;
 | |
|    double t1 = Sd1 * Sd1 / Sn1;
 | |
|    t1 *= t1;
 | |
|    t1 /=  (Sn1 - 1);
 | |
|    double t2 = Sd2 * Sd2 / Sn2;
 | |
|    t2 *= t2;
 | |
|    t2 /= (Sn2 - 1);
 | |
|    v /= (t1 + t2);
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "Degrees of Freedom" << "=  " << v << "\n";
 | |
|    // t-statistic:
 | |
|    double t_stat = (Sm1 - Sm2) / sqrt(Sd1 * Sd1 / Sn1 + Sd2 * Sd2 / Sn2);
 | |
|    cout << setw(55) << left << "T Statistic" << "=  " << t_stat << "\n";
 | |
| 
 | |
| Thereafter the code and the tests are performed the same as before.  Using
 | |
| are car mileage data again, here's what the output looks like:
 | |
| 
 | |
| [pre'''
 | |
|    __________________________________________________
 | |
|    Student t test for two samples (unequal variances)
 | |
|    __________________________________________________
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Number of Observations (Sample 1)                      =  249
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean                                          =  20.145
 | |
|    Sample 1 Standard Deviation                            =  6.4147
 | |
|    Number of Observations (Sample 2)                      =  79
 | |
|    Sample 2 Mean                                          =  30.481
 | |
|    Sample 2 Standard Deviation                            =  6.1077
 | |
|    Degrees of Freedom                                     =  136.87
 | |
|    T Statistic                                            =  -12.946
 | |
|    Probability that difference is due to chance           =  1.571e-025
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Results for Alternative Hypothesis and alpha           =  0.0500'''
 | |
| 
 | |
|    Alternative Hypothesis              Conclusion
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean != Sample 2 Mean       NOT REJECTED
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean <  Sample 2 Mean       NOT REJECTED
 | |
|    Sample 1 Mean >  Sample 2 Mean       REJECTED
 | |
| ]
 | |
| 
 | |
| This time allowing the variances in the two samples to differ has yielded
 | |
| a higher likelihood that the observed difference is down to chance alone
 | |
| (1.571e-025 compared to 5.273e-030 when equal variances were assumed).
 | |
| However, the conclusion remains the same: US cars are less fuel efficient
 | |
| than Japanese models.
 | |
| 
 | |
| [endsect]
 | |
| [section:paired_st Comparing two paired samples with the Student's t distribution]
 | |
| 
 | |
| Imagine that we have a before and after reading for each item in the sample:
 | |
| for example we might have measured blood pressure before and after administration
 | |
| of a new drug.  We can't pool the results and compare the means before and after
 | |
| the change, because each patient will have a different baseline reading.
 | |
| Instead we calculate the difference between before and after measurements
 | |
| in each patient, and calculate the mean and standard deviation of the differences.
 | |
| To test whether a significant change has taken place, we can then test
 | |
| the null-hypothesis that the true mean is zero using the same procedure
 | |
| we used in the single sample cases previously discussed.
 | |
| 
 | |
| That means we can:
 | |
| 
 | |
| * [link math_toolkit.stat_tut.weg.st_eg.tut_mean_intervals Calculate confidence intervals of the mean].
 | |
| If the endpoints of the interval differ in sign then we are unable to reject
 | |
| the null-hypothesis that there is no change.
 | |
| * [link math_toolkit.stat_tut.weg.st_eg.tut_mean_test Test whether the true mean is zero]. If the
 | |
| result is consistent with a true mean of zero, then we are unable to reject the
 | |
| null-hypothesis that there is no change.
 | |
| * [link math_toolkit.stat_tut.weg.st_eg.tut_mean_size Calculate how many pairs of readings we would need
 | |
| in order to obtain a significant result].
 | |
| 
 | |
| [endsect]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [endsect][/section:st_eg Student's t]
 | |
| 
 | |
| [/
 | |
|   Copyright 2006, 2012 John Maddock and Paul A. Bristow.
 | |
|   Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
 | |
|   (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
 | |
|   http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt).
 | |
| ]
 | |
| 
 |