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[–] 20 points 2 years ago (4 children)

what‽ how is the student t distribution more important than the normal distribution?? you can't even use the t unless you've confirmed that you've got a normal! 📈📉

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the student t distribution a set of distributions that includes the normal distribution?

    Because if so, it feels a little like saying "you can't even call something red unless you've confirmed that it's crimson"

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    The t-distribution approaches the normal distribution with increasing degrees of freedom. It is certainly more relevant in for example hypothesis testing, since t-Tests (variance is estimated from the data) is much more common than z-tests (variance is treated as fixed and coming from a normal distribution).

    In all of statistics or probability theory, the normal theory is however way more influential.

    Nonetheless, it's a cool bit of history where modern statistics got its roots. As a lover of both statistics and guinness, i approve!🍻

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