null hypothesis

American  

noun

1. (in the statistical testing of a hypothesis) the hypothesis to be tested.

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null hypothesis British  

noun

1. statistics the residual hypothesis if the alternative hypothesis tested against it fails to achieve a predetermined significance level Compare hypothesis testing alternative hypothesis

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Etymology

Origin of null hypothesis

First recorded in 1930–35

Compare meaning

How does null-hypothesis compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• null hypothesis vs. alternative hypothesis

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

null hypothesis

As we will see, the null hypothesis has the advantage in competition with the alternative.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

This bias in favor of the null hypothesis is what gives rise to the statement "tyranny of the status quo" when discussing hypothesis testing and the scientific method.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

They are "cannot accept H0" if the sample information favors the alternative hypothesis or "do not reject H0" or "decline to reject H0" if the sample information is insufficient to reject the null hypothesis.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

The decision rule stated above applies here also: if the calculated value of Zc shows that the sample proportion is "too many" standard deviations from the hypothesized proportion, the null hypothesis cannot be accepted.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

Thus, we can reject the null hypothesis and tentatively accept that, for whatever reason, people do seem to wait until their birthdays to die.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos