Meanings
plural Student's t tests · alternative Student's t-test
- mathematicsAny statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic has a Student's t-distribution if the null hypothesis is true.
Synonyms: Student's t, t test
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic has a Student's t-distribution if the null hypothesis is true.
Origin
From Student, the pen-name of William Sealy Gosset, Irish statistician, who documented this test in a paper in Biometrika. Through the popularization of this test in the work of Ronald Fisher, who referred to it as a test for value "t" to check for Student's distribution.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Student's t test. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Student's%20t%20test
“Student's t test.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Student's%20t%20test. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Student's t test,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Student's%20t%20test.
Source: Student's t test on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.