degrees of freedom

de·grees of free·dom (d.f.),

in statistics, the number of independent comparisons that can be made between the members of a sample (for example, subjects, test items and scores, trials, conditions); in a contingency table it is one less than the number of row categories multiplied by one less than the number of column categories.

degrees of freedom (df)

a statistical measure of the number of independent observations or choices among members in a sample. It is used in determining the statistical significance of findings during data analysis.

de·grees of free·dom

(dĕ-grēz' frē'dŏm)

1. The number of planes (e.g., one, two, or three) within which a joint can move.

2. The variety of possible movement combinations that can occur within a segment of the human body.

degrees of freedom (df)

the number of unrestricted variables in a frequency distribution, a factor that is of great importance in statistical testing. For example, in a simple CHI-SQUARED TEST the number of degrees of freedom is one less than the number of classes (types) of individuals, one d.f. having been lost due to the assumption that a certain proportion of each class is expected. Thus in testing a 9:3:3:1 ratio there are three degrees of freedom.

de·grees of free·dom

(dĕ-grēz' frē'dŏm)

In statistics, number of independent comparisons that can be made between the members of a sample.

degrees of freedom (df),

n.pl a statistic, based on the number of observations and groups in a study, that is necessary to determine statistical significance. One looks up the degrees of freedom and the significance level in a table of significance values to determine if the magnitude of the value obtained is significant. Used with the t-test, chi square, analysis of variance, and correlation.

degrees of freedom

used to define statistical distributions of several tests, usually based on the number of data items less the number of parameters estimated.