AMA Manual of Style (10th ed.) : A Guide for Authors and Editors

AMA Manual of Style Committee

Publisher:: Oxford University Press

Print Publication Date:: Mar 2007

Print ISBN-13:: 9780195176339

Published to AMA Manual of Style:: Apr 2009

DOI:: 10.1093/jama/9780195176339.001.0001

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Statistical Symbols and Abbreviations

Chapter:: Study Design and Statistics
Author(s):: Margaret A. Winker,
Stephen J. Lurie

The following may be used without expansion except where noted by an asterisk. For a term expanded at first mention, the abbreviation may be placed in parentheses after the expanded term and the abbreviation used thereafter (see also 14.11, Abbreviations, Clinical, Technical, and Other Common Terms). Most terms other than mathematical symbols can also be found in 20.9, Glossary of Statistical Terms.

Symbol or Abbreviation	Description
\|x\|	absolute value
∑	sum
>	greater than
≥	greater than or equal to
<	less than
≤	less than or equal to
^	hat, used above a parameter to denote an estimate
ANOVA	analysis of variance*
ANCOVA	analysis of covariance*
α	alpha, probability of type I error
1 − α	confidence coefficient
β	beta, probability of type II error; or population regression coefficient
1 − β	power of a statistical test
b	sample regression coefficient
CI	confidence interval*
CV	coefficient of variation (s/x̄) x 100*
D	difference
df	degrees of freedom (v is the international symbol⁵⁵ and also may be used if familiar to readers)
D²	Mahalanobis distance, distance between the means of 2 groups
δ	delta, change delta
δ	delta, true sampling error
∊	epsilon, true experimental error
e	exponential
E(x)	expected value of the variable x
f	frequency; or a function of, usually followed by an expression in parentheses, eg, f(x)
F_v1,v2(1 − α)	F test, ratio of 2 variances, with df = v₁, v₂ for numerator and denominator, respectively, and (1 − α) = confidence coefficient
G²(df)	likelihood ratio χ²
H₀	null hypothesis
H₁	alternate hypothesis; specify whether 1- or 2-sided
κ	kappa statistic
λ_i	lambda, hazard function for interval i; eigenvalue; or estimate of parameter for log-linear models
Λ	Wilks lambda
ln	natural logarithm
log	logarithm to base 10
MANOVA	multivariate analysis of variance*
μ	population mean
n	size of a subsample
N	total sample size
n!	(n) factorial
OR	odds ratio*
p	statistical probability
$χ_{3}^{2}$	χ² test or statistic, with 3 df shown as an example
r	bivariate coefficient of determination
R	multivariate correlation coefficient
r²	bivariate coefficient of determination
R²	multivariate coefficient of determination
RR	relative risk*
ρ	rho, population correlation coefficient
S_D	standard deviation of a difference D
s²	sample variance
σ²	sigma squared, population variance
σ	sigma, population SD
SD	standard deviation of a sample
SE	standard error
SEM	standard error of the mean
t	Student t; specify α level, df, 1-tailed vs 2-tailed
τ	Kendall tau
T²	Hotelling T² statistic
u	Mann-Whitney U(Wilcoxon) statistic
$\bar{x}$	arithmetic mean
z	z Score

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AMA Manual of Style Committee

Statistical Symbols and Abbreviations

Margaret A. Winker,

Stephen J. Lurie