AI engineering glossary · Statistics inference
What is t-distribution?
t-distribution (also called Student's t-distribution): A bell-shaped, symmetric distribution with heavier tails than the normal curve, used when the population spread is estimated from a small sample. As the degrees of freedom increase it approaches the normal curve.
t-distribution: an example
With 9 degrees of freedom, the 95 percent two-sided critical value is about 2.26, versus 1.96 for the normal curve.
Related terms
More Statistics inference terms
- Test statistic
- Two-sample t-test
- Type I error
- Type II error
- Unbiased estimator
- Welch's t-test
- Wilcoxon signed-rank test
- Z-test
Where you learn it
t-distribution is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.