chi-square test

American  

Also chi-squared test

noun

Statistics.

1. a test devised by Karl Pearson that uses the quantity chi-square for testing the mathematical fit of a frequency curve to an observed frequency distribution.

---

chi-square test British  

noun

1. statistics a test derived from the chi-square distribution to compare the goodness of fit of theoretical and observed frequency distributions or to compare nominal data derived from unmatched groups of subjects

---

Etymology

Origin of chi-square test

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

By repeatedly tallying whether or not a one-hour period following or not following your observation of a black cat in an area with high cat density did or did not bring you some specified level of misfortune, and by applying the statistician’s chi-square test, you can quickly convince yourself that the black-cat hypothesis has a probability of less than 1 out of 1,000 of being true.

From Salon

The significance of each difference reported was calculated by the Chi-square test and the confidence limit is given in each case.

From Project Gutenberg