What is Significance: Definition and 278 Discussions

In statistical hypothesis testing, a result has statistical significance when it is very unlikely to have occurred given the null hypothesis. More precisely, a study's defined significance level, denoted by



α


{\displaystyle \alpha }
, is the probability of the study rejecting the null hypothesis, given that the null hypothesis was assumed to be true; and the p-value of a result,



p


{\displaystyle p}
, is the probability of obtaining a result at least as extreme, given that the null hypothesis is true. The result is statistically significant, by the standards of the study, when



p

α


{\displaystyle p\leq \alpha }
. The significance level for a study is chosen before data collection, and is typically set to 5% or much lower—depending on the field of study.In any experiment or observation that involves drawing a sample from a population, there is always the possibility that an observed effect would have occurred due to sampling error alone. But if the p-value of an observed effect is less than (or equal to) the significance level, an investigator may conclude that the effect reflects the characteristics of the whole population, thereby rejecting the null hypothesis.This technique for testing the statistical significance of results was developed in the early 20th century. The term significance does not imply importance here, and the term statistical significance is not the same as research, theoretical, or practical significance. For example, the term clinical significance refers to the practical importance of a treatment effect.

View More On Wikipedia.org
  1. L

    Significance of a Mobius strip?

    Can anyone explain the meaning behind a mobius strip? Basically just a means to travel on both sides of a flat surface? It's still a 3D object though since it uses 3D space for the twist to be possible?
  2. James1238765

    I What is the significance of the T - V Lagrangian of a system?

    Let E be a fixed immutable quantity. E can be freely exchanged between T and V, as long as $$T + V = E$$ 1. What does the quantity $$\int_x T - V $$ signify? What is the importance of this quantity? -------------------- Let E now be the budget of a factory. E can either be spent on T or V in...
  3. D

    A What is the significance of the Poincaré conjecture?

    Namely, what does Perelman’s proof of it imply?
  4. A

    A Significance of CMB anomalies?

    Significance of https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.00120 ,also https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.11092 on CMB anomaly and holographic models? Support?Confirmation?Interpretation? Not my field,but striking!
  5. L

    I Significance of double slit experiment?

    What is the significance of the double slit experiment? When I first learned about it I thought the human observer decided the outcome. But I guess a human observer isn't even needed and therefore a conscious mind is just as irrelevant. What does it prove that an outcome is neither one thing or...
  6. F

    I Significance of (1+1/x)^x as x->-inf

    Any practical or scientific significance of (1+1/x)^x as x->-inf?
  7. G

    Superdeterminism ruined the significance of DCQE experiment

    I keep thinking that the universe "knows" when, how, where these know-it-all (no pun intended) physicists did their experiment so all the results are not only consistent, but perfectly normal, nothing freaky about it. I'm no longer capable of thinking like a normal human being and subsequently...
  8. patric44

    I What is the significance of the dispersion relation?

    hi guys i would like to know what is the physical significance of the dispersion relation , i know that it relates the energy and momentum vector and correspondingly the energy and momentum with each other , but what does this tell me about the system , and why should i care that the dispersion...
  9. R

    I Is there any physical significance to Wave Amplitude?

    I am studying Quantum physics and I'm having some problems to understand what is the Wave Amplitude since I can't find a physical significance to it. Does anyone ever heard something that come close to a physical significance?
  10. mfb

    The Significance Filter: How selective publishing biases results

    On arXiv: The Significance Filter, the Winner's Curse and the Need to Shrink It's well known that it is difficult to publish null results in various fields. The authors try to quantify that by analyzing over a million z-scores from Medline, a database for medical publications. A very striking...
  11. Hamiltonian

    Derivation of the orbital analysis equation and its physical significance

    $$cos\theta = \frac {s}{1-s} = \frac{p-1}{p}$$ in this equation ##\theta## is the bond angle and ##s## and ##p## are the fractional s-character of the orbital and p-character of the orbital. This is equation is used rigorously in showing that the s-character of the axial orbitals in a ##sp^3d##...
  12. P

    B Stats: Determining significance level in problem

    Question: In finance, the strong form of the efficient market hypothesis states that studying financial information about stocks is a waste of time since all public and private information that might affect the stock price is already reflected in the price of the stock. However, a study of 450...
  13. Hamiltonian

    B Significance of the solution of the Euler-Lagrange equation

    I am new to Lagrangian mechanics and I have gone through basic examples of solving the Euler Lagrange equation for simple pendulums or projectiles and things like that. But I am unable to understand what we are exactly solving the equation for or what is the significance of the differential...
  14. entropy1

    I The significance of the Dirac notation

    If we have the wavefunction ##|ab \rangle##, what do the a and b stand for? In particular, do a and b signify an outcome of some pending or possible measurement, or do they signify some aspect of the wavefunction, and if so, which aspect?
  15. Grinkle

    COVID Covid Vaccine Phase 3 significance

    Russia's vaccine news has me pondering. How often after a successful phase 2 study do phase 3 studies show that the vaccine causes harm? If I were offered a COVID-19 vaccine that had passed phase 2 trials, I'd accept it. Is that foolhardy of me? Is it possible to use existing data to model...
  16. S

    I What is the significance of this graphic (statistics)

    https://www.fmglobal.com/research-and-resources/tools-and-resources/resilienceindex/explore-the-data/? Below the world map, there is a horizontal graphic with dots corresponding to each country. The dots are broadly ranked from right to left according to a measure of "economic resilience", but...
  17. T

    I Significance of discovering a function which computes the n-th prime?

    Let's say the function is of a form F(x), where F(n) gives us the value of the n-th prime number, for all values of n. And it computes and discovers subsequent prime numbers directly without using any form of brute-force computation.If such a function is discovered, how ground-breaking would it...
  18. sophiatev

    I Significance of the Exchange Operator commuting with the Hamiltonian

    In an Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by Griffiths (pg. 180), he claims that "P and H are compatible observables, and hence we can find a complete set of functions that are simultaneous eigenstates of both. That is to say, we can find solutions to the Schrodinger equation that are either...
  19. M

    MHB Perform a significance test

    Hey! :o In a study at $15$ children at the age of $10$ years the number of hours of television watching per week and the pounds above or below the ideal body weight were determined (high positive values ​​= overweight). Determine the simple linear regression equation by considering the...
  20. cnh1995

    Physical Significance of the Laplace Transform

    I have used Laplace transform during my EE studies to solve differential equations and in control system analysis, but we were taught that as a tool kit to make the math easier. The physical meaning was never explained. I know basic time and frequency domain concepts (thanks to Fourier series)...
  21. Nathan Warford

    B Significance of the Planck Particle

    Taken from the Wikipedia page: Is there something significant about the physics of the Planck Particle or its properties? If so, then what is the significance? If there's nothing especially significant about the Planck Particle, then you can just say "No" and I will consider the matter closed...
  22. S

    A Physical significance of growth rate in plasma

    Let us say that we have a dispersion relation curve and associated instability curve as shown below for a magnetised plasma, which have been formulated through kinetic theory. The frequencies and growth rate have been normalized w.r.t. cyclotron frequency of proton. My question is: what does...
  23. C

    Fourier Analysis and the Significance of Odd and Even Functions

    Homework Statement Q1. a) In relation to Fourier analysis state the meaning and significance of 4 i) odd and even functions ii) half-wave symmetry {i.e. f(t+π)= −f(t)}. Illustrate each answer with a suitable waveform sketch. b) State by inspection (i.e. without performing any formal analysis)...
  24. Prof Sabi

    IQ Score of 128: Analyzing Its Significance

    Recently I checked my IQ at Mensa iq test and got an IQ score of 128. Is there anything special about it?
  25. P

    I What's the significance of HUP if Ψ collapses?

    If I understand it correctly, a particle doesn't have a definite momentum and a definite position, but is in a superposition of multiple positions and momenta. And when we measure either of the two quantities, say, position, the wavefunction collapses to tell us where the particle is. Now when...
  26. I

    MHB Significance test comparing slopes from linear fit

    I would like to compare four slopes I got from linear fits through five data points for each fit. The fitting results (for the slopes) are as follows: 1: 0.08885 ± 0.00991 2: 0.08744 ± 0.0118 3: 0.10288 ± 0.00669 4: 0.0926 ± 0.01285 My hypothesis is that they are all not significantly different...
  27. dRic2

    I Significance of the viscous stress tensor

    Hi, when working with NS equations the stress tensor can be written as ##\nabla \tau = - \nabla P + \nabla \tau_{v}##, where ##\tau_{v} ## is \begin{pmatrix} \tau_{xx} & \tau_{xy} & \tau_{xz} \\ \tau_{xy} & \tau_{yy} & \tau_{yz} \\ \tau_{zx} & \tau_{zy} & \tau_{zz} \end{pmatrix} This...
  28. A

    I Significance of an excess calculated by the Asimov formula

    Is the significance of an excess calculated by Asimov formula given in units of sigma? Z_0 = \sqrt{2((s+b) ln(1+ s/b)-s)} where s are the signal events and b are the background events. If no, how can I calculate it in units of sigma? Thank you in advance!
  29. Muhammad Usman

    What is the Significance of the Electric field in a closed circuit

    Hi, I am confused about the electric field lines which are depicted mostly on the Internet as per conventional way. What I understand that the conventional current was due to positive charges which was wrong. Actual flow of the current was due to the negative charges or electrons. When the...
  30. Kostik

    I Does the value of the action S have classical significance?

    We obtain equations of motion by solving the Euler-Lagrange equations; along this path the action ##S## is an extremum. We are usually interested in the path ##x(t)## (in one dimension) connecting ##x(0)=x_0## and ##x(T)=x_1##. But does the numerical (extremal) value of the resulting action have...
  31. rishi kesh

    What is significance of eulers number

    Thread moved by mentor why is 'e' so important number. e^x is said to be natural language of growth. Why isn't 2^x a 100% growth.Can anyone explain me the difference between both of these and also bit more about number e which known as famous constant.please explain clearly. I will appreciate it.
  32. R

    I Vector Triple Product - Physcial Significance

    Hii, As we know, Scaler triple product is volume of parallelopiped constructed by its three sides. Similary, What is the physical significance and geometrical interpretation of Vector triple product ? Also, What are the application where we use such mathematics and why ? Regards, Rahul
  33. S

    Loss of Significance: Why Does Bisection Method Fail for Large Intervals?

    Homework Statement Hello! I am not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, but I need some help. So i use the bisection method to find the zeros of a function. When I do it for sin(x), with the initial interval being ##[10^6 \pi, (10^6+1) \pi]##, the program enters an infinite loop...
  34. Wrichik Basu

    B Physical significance of wave function

    I am a beginner in quantum mechanics. I started out with D. J. Griffiths' book in quantum mechanics. I'm having a problem in understanding the wave function. What is the physical meaning of the wave function? I searched on the net but didn't get any good explanation. I understand that the...
  35. T

    B A question about the significance of 3

    A very quick question about the significance of 3: So we have 3 large dimensions. And we have 3 generations of quarks. And we have 3 generations of Leptons. Is there any known significance or reason or connection to the number 3? Are there any other examples of sets of 3 in Physics...
  36. V

    I What's the significance of the phase in a coherent state?

    In a coherent state defined by |\alpha\rangle = \exp{\left(-\frac{|\alpha|^2}{2}\right)}\exp{\left(\alpha \hat{a}^\dagger\right)} |0\rangle there is a definite phase associated with the state by \alpha = |\alpha| \exp{\left(i\theta\right)} where the number operator and phase operator are...
  37. M

    I Significant correlation, not significant coefficient

    A couple of questions today. First. I am running a panel data regression test. First I check the correlations between the independent variables and the dependent variable. these are the results. The D/(D+Em) is the dependent variable, and the independent are the 4 variables most adjacent...
  38. K

    The significance of each term in Planck's Radiation Formula

    Homework Statement I(λ, T) is 4 pieces multiplied: (8π/λ4) (hc/λ) (1/(ehc/λkT-1) (c/4). 1. Identify the meaning of each term. 2. Which term(s) fix the ultraviolet catastrophe? The Attempt at a Solution Well I know that the energy of a photon is given by (hc/λ), and I'm fairly certain it was...
  39. Mind----Blown

    Significance of terms of acceleration in polar coordinates

    How do i get an idea, or a 'feel' of the components of the acceleration in polar coordinates which constitute the component in the eθ direction? from what i know, a= (r¨−rθ˙^2) er + (rθ¨+ 2r˙θ˙) eθ ; (where er and eθ are unit vectors in the radial direction and the direction of increase of the...
  40. N

    I Physical significance of a.σ in expectation -E(a.σ b.σ)?

    Admins: Please excuse my E and brackets in the title, and correct if possible. My questions are these, please: 1. What is the physical significance of (\hat{a}\cdot\boldsymbol{\sigma}_{1}) in \left\langle...
  41. N

    I What is the physical significance of Bell's math?

    Bell (1964) http://cds.cern.ch/record/111654/files/vol1p195-200_001.pdf has 3 unnumbered equations following his equation (14). Let them be (14a)-(14c). Bell then uses his equation (1) to move from (14a)-(14b). It seems to me that he uses this: [A(b,λ)]2 = 1. (X)...
  42. S

    I What is the significance of calculating the average value of cos?

    In kinetic theory, the number of molecules hitting a unit area of a surface per unit time with speeds between v and v + dv and angles between \theta and \theta + d \theta is found to be a function of sin(theta) and cos(theta). There will often be a practice problem asking to show that the...
  43. T

    I Level of significance and acceptance and rejection of the null hypothesis

    Why do we reject the null hypothesis in Goodness of fit when the Chi square statistic is less than the tabulated value of chi-square at say 5% level of significance and accept when it is more? What does it mean to have a Chi-square value more or less than the value assigned to a certain level...
  44. K

    I Beta coefficient vs. Significance coefficient

    Hello Physicsforums! I've stumbeld on a problem in statistics (which is one of my weaknesses when it comes to math). I´m currently trying to analyze data from a study and using multiple regression analysis. From regression analysis with one independent variable I´m used to mainly focus on the...
  45. L

    B Significance of a planet's "surface gravity"

    I was just looking at list of solar system objects and was surprised to see that the surface gravity of Uranus is only 90% that of Earth's. I get it that the "surface" of a gas planet is further from that planet's core than is the case for Earth. But does surface gravity really have any effect...
  46. F

    I Do these relations have any physical significance

    Photon energy E_p= hv=hc/lamda taking lamda= h/mc which is the electron Compton wavelength and substituting in above E_p=mc^2 L(angular momentum)=r X P=(Lamda/2)*(E_p/c)=h/2 are these results coincident or have any physical meaning, they relate a photon wavelength equal to an electron...
  47. F

    Significance of magnetic flux between wires

    Homework Statement Two wires are laid side by side and carry equal currents in opposite directions. Explain why the total magnetic flux density due to the current in the wires is negligible 2. The attempt at a solution I know that having a different direction for the current results in...
  48. S

    Significance of nonvanishing gradient

    Homework Statement I am working in "Intro to PDEs with Applications" on page 6. Gradients come up in discussions of surfaces expressed as F(x,y,z). In discussing such matters, the buildup includes the assumption that grad F is not equal to the zero vector. A later line reads, "Under the...
  49. S

    I Physical significance of nodes?

    Hi, II have an issue with nodes in QM, like suppose in a well, the number of nodes depend on (n-1), the thing is that, what is so special(physically) about the point that the particle cannot be located there? Thanks is advance
  50. V

    A What do significant autoregressive coefficients mean?

    I am building a business cycle index, which include 4 variables that drive the index. Each variable I also include autoregessive coefficients that are all significant and negative. I was wondering what is the significance of this? In other words, what is the significance of have autoregessive...
Back
Top