Abstract: | In the study of spatial patterns, the statistic I' = (n — 1)s2/x was commonly used. In this paper, we found that x — s2 has an approximated normal distribution with zero mean if the xi's (i = 1 to n) are independent identically distributed Poisson variables. Based on this conclusion, the hypothesis that a point pattern is completely random can be tested directly. And a method for the test of spatial patterns was proposed which can be sued as an alternative to the Chi-square based dispersion index test. |