Excel p-value...8.27E-05...What Does it Mean?

[Kaplan]

I am rather new to regression analysis, but have always been a numbers guy when it comes to betting. I have ordered a couple books (yet to arrive) relating to this kind of analysis, and hope to incorporate it into my capping for next year. After messing around with Excel for a few days, I have been pretty happy with the results. However, tonight I sat down at the computer and ran one of my traditional average based formulas and for the DV P-value I recieved 8.27E-05. I am not familiar with this. Can somebody tell me what it means. E for Error? Is Excel not a proper tool for this kind of thing? Data entry error?

Thanks.

[jgilmartin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Notation

[Kaplan]

So I am well below the .05, and Null would be rejected? Thanks.

[w1nterl0ng]

So I am well below the .05, and Null would be rejected? Thanks.

You are correct. The short version of what wikipedia will tell you is that the "number" 8.27E-05 is the same as 0.0000827
You take the number 8.27 and move the decimal 5 places to the left. I could go on, but just remember if the you see a "-" move the decimal left, if you see a "+" move the decimal right.

[Peregrine Stoop]

If you're new to this, I'll warn you about independent variables. You might not be making this mistake, but it's quite common for new gambler to create some multi-variable regression where the variables are not independent. You end up with some garbage coefficients that will cost money in the long-run.