ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the binomial test, one of the simpler statistical tests. It derives the test from first principles, discusses the simple probability theory on which the test is based, and shows how the actual test ends up as merely a matter of looking up some tables. The chapter demonstrates the logic behind the test and introduces the basic concepts of statistical testing. It presents how a mathematical exercise, called the binomial expansion, can be used as a shortcut for calculating probabilities. The chapter shows how this probability calculation can be used to analyze data from a sample so as to tell us about the population from which the sample was drawn. Because binomial tests are used so extensively for the analysis of difference and preference testing, in the sensory analysis of foods, it is worth examining this application in detail.
