TOPICS
Search

Hypothesis


A hypothesis is a proposition that is consistent with known data, but has been neither verified nor shown to be false.

In statistics, a hypothesis (sometimes called a statistical hypothesis) refers to a statement on which hypothesis testing will be based. Particularly important statistical hypotheses include the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis.

In symbolic logic, a hypothesis is the first part of an implication (with the second part being known as the predicate).

In general mathematical usage, "hypothesis" is roughly synonymous with "conjecture."


See also

Alternative Hypothesis, Bourget's Hypothesis, Chinese Hypothesis, Conjecture, Continuum Hypothesis, Hypothesis Testing, Monster-Barring, Nested Hypothesis, Null Hypothesis, Postulate, Proposition, Riemann Hypothesis, Schinzel's Hypothesis, Souslin's Hypothesis Explore this topic in the MathWorld classroom

Explore with Wolfram|Alpha

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Hypothesis." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Hypothesis.html

Subject classifications