ELI5- In statistics, what do you mean by degree of freedom? And why do you lose a degree when moving from population to a sample?
In: 2
DoF is the number of elements that are free to take independent or unknown values (free to change).
Let’s say you know you have 10 people and you know the total height of these people. How many individuals can have unknown heights? Only 9. Once you know the height of 9 people, the height is of the 10th is known with certainty. It is the total height minus the heights of the other 9. It doesn’t have the freedom to change so that degree (element) of freedom (uncertainty) is lost.
The sum total of probabilities is always 1. So once every element but the last is determined, the last element is known so a degree (element) of freedom (uncertainty) is lost.
Latest Answers