degrees of freedom, ν 

https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01572
A statistical quantity indicating the number of values which could be arbitrarily assigned within the specification of a system of observations. For simple replication, with n measurements and one estimated parameter (the mean), ν=n−1. More generally, for multivariable computations, the number of degrees of freedom equals the number of observations minus the number of fitted parameters.
Source:
PAC, 1994, 66, 595. (Nomenclature for the presentation of results of chemical analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)) on page 599 [Terms] [Paper]
Citation: 'degrees of freedom' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.D01572 RIS BibTex EndNote
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Last revised: February 24, 2014