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

This was called a two-tailed test because the alternative hypothesis allowed that the mean could have come from a population which was either larger or smaller than the hypothesized mean in the null hypothesis.

From Textbooks ● Nov. 29, 2017

The probability that an average time of 16 minutes could come from a distribution with a population mean of 16.43 minutes is too unlikely for us to accept 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

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

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