numerical method(numerical taxonomy) Any numerical description of an individual or community, or comparisons of these (such as similarity indices), or data structuring methods (such as principal components analysis and classification). The essential point is that numerical methods make no assumptions about the data (e.g. the sampling approach used, the distribution of the data, or the probability of particular patterns or frequencies). In contrast, statistical methods do make certain assumptions about the form of the data, on which the validity of significance testing depends. Compare statistical method.

numerical method (numerical taxonomy) Any numerical description of an individual or community, or comparisons of these (such as similarity indices), or data-structuring methods (such as principal components analysis and classification). The essential point is that numerical methods make no assumptions about the data, e.g. the sampling approach used, the distribution of the data, or the probability of particular patterns or frequencies. In contrast, statistical methods do make certain assumptions about the form of the data, on which the validity of significance testing depends. Compare STATISTICAL METHOD.

numerical method (numerical taxonomy) Any method for quantifying individuals or communities, or for comparing such quantifications, that makes no assumptions about the data (e.g. about the sampling approach used, the distribution of the data, or the probability of particular patterns or frequencies). Compare STATISTICAL METHOD.