t-test and z-test calculator

It is the probability of a test statistic at least as extreme as the one observed, assuming the null hypothesis is true. For the default data p = 0.0355: if the true mean were 500, samples at least this far from 500 would turn up about 3.6% of the time. It is not the probability that H₀ is true and it does not measure effect size, as the American Statistical Association's 2016 statement on p-values stresses.

Use Welch's test unless you have good reason to believe the variances are equal. It drops the equal-variance assumption and loses little power when the variances do match, while the pooled test's false-positive rate drifts from α when variances and group sizes both differ. On the worked example (s = 3.2 and 4.8, n = 15 and 12) Welch gives p = 0.111 on 18.4 df and the pooled test p = 0.092 on 25 df.

When each value in one sample is matched to one in the other: the same patients before and after treatment, or two instruments measuring the same parts. The test is a one-sample t-test on the differences, which removes the variation between subjects. In the paired worked example eight pairs differ by 4.75 on average, giving t = 4.33 on 7 df and a one-sided p of 0.0017.

A z-test uses a known population standard deviation σ and the standard normal distribution; a t-test estimates σ from the sample and uses Student's t, whose heavier tails allow for that extra uncertainty. The two-sided 5% critical value is 1.960 for z, 2.201 for t with 11 df and 2.042 with 30 df. σ is rarely known in practice, so the t-test is the usual choice for means.

Use a two-tailed test unless the direction was fixed before seeing the data and an effect in the other direction would be treated the same as no effect. A one-tailed test puts all of α in one tail, so its p-value is half the two-tailed one when the effect goes the predicted way: t = −2.395 on 11 df gives 0.0355 two-tailed and 0.0178 left-tailed. Picking the tail after looking doubles the real false-positive rate.

정확도는 입력값과 계산 방법의 가정에 따라 달라집니다. 십진 연산은 유효숫자 50자리를 사용하지만, 추정값·수치해석 방법·원본 데이터의 정밀도는 더 낮을 수 있습니다. 표시값을 반올림해도 이러한 한계는 사라지지 않습니다. 독립적인 출처의 풀이와 대조한 계산 예시: 7. 예를 들어 “One-sample t on fill weights (defaults)”은 Python statistics.mean/stdev for t; p-value from the A&S 26.7.3 closed form for odd ν (pyref.t_cdf_int); t₀.₉₇₅,₁₁ = 2.201 (t table)와 대조해 확인합니다.

NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, §1.3.5.3 Two-sample t-test for equal means; NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook, §7.2.2 Are the data consistent with the assumed process mean?; Welch, B. L. (1947). The generalization of Student's problem when several different population variances are involved. Biometrika 34, 28–35.