WorksheetFunction.ChiTest Method

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Excel Developer Reference

Returns the test for independence.

Syntax

expression.ChiTest(Arg1, Arg2)

expression   A variable that represents a WorksheetFunction object.

Parameters

Name Required/Optional Data Type Description
Arg1 Required Variant The range of data that contains observations to test against expected values.
Arg2 Required Variant The range of data that contains the ratio of the product of row totals and column totals to the grand total.

Return Value
Double

Remarks

ChiTest returns the value from the chi-squared (χ2) distribution for the statistic and the appropriate degrees of freedom. You can use χ2 tests to determine whether hypothesized results are verified by an experiment.

  • If actual_range and expected_range have a different number of data points, ChiTest returns the #N/A error value.

  • The χ2 test first calculates a χ2 statistic using the formula:

    Equation

    where:

    Aij = actual frequency in the i-th row, j-th column

    Eij = expected frequency in the i-th row, j-th column

    r = number or rows

    c = number of columns

  • A low value of χ2 is an indicator of independence. As can be seen from the formula, χ2 is always positive or 0, and is 0 only if Aij = Eij for every i,j.

  • ChiTest returns the probability that a value of the χ2 statistic at least as high as the value calculated by the above formula could have happened by chance under the assumption of independence. In computing this probability, ChiTest uses the χ2 distribution with an appropriate number of degrees of freedom, df. If r > 1 and c > 1, then df = (r - 1)(c - 1). If r = 1 and c > 1, then df = c - 1 or if r > 1 and c = 1, then df = r - 1. r = c= 1 is not allowed and generates an error.

  • Use of ChiTest is most appropriate when Eij’s are not too small. Some statisticians suggest that each Eij should be greater than or equal to 5.

See Also