History and etymology Student's t-distribution

statistician william sealy gosset, known student

in statistics, t-distribution first derived posterior distribution in 1876 helmert , lüroth. t-distribution appeared in more general form pearson type iv distribution in karl pearson s 1895 paper.

in english-language literature distribution takes name william sealy gosset s 1908 paper in biometrika under pseudonym student . gosset worked @ guinness brewery in dublin, ireland, , interested in problems of small samples – example, chemical properties of barley sample sizes might few 3. 1 version of origin of pseudonym gosset s employer preferred staff use pen names when publishing scientific papers instead of real name, used name student hide identity. version guinness did not want competitors know using t-test determine quality of raw material.

gosset s paper refers distribution frequency distribution of standard deviations of samples drawn normal population . became well-known through work of ronald fisher, called distribution student s distribution , represented test value letter t.