A test of significance for the Helmert-Kubik-Problem of Weight-determination

As it has been shown by Kubik it is possible to get an estimate, , of the reciprocal of the weight-matrix in an adjustment problem. If we want to see whether this new estimate differssignificantly from our a priori valueQ ₀ it is necessary to know the distribution function of the elements , the ’s being the elements of . This distribution is found in the present article and it is shown that it is not identical with any of the distributions well known from statistical textbooks. Furthermore a way of computing this new distribution is presented. Finally the connection with the chi-square distribution is explored and it is proved that the chi-square-distribution may be used as an approximation for a large number of over-determinations.