History I / Settlement Patterns and Landscapes
Practice question · Multiple choice

The nearest-neighbour statistic reports whether settlements are clustered, random or regularly spaced. Why is "random" the interesting result rather than the boring one?

Hints
  1. Ask what each of the three patterns would be evidence FOR.
  2. The statistic is testing against a null.
Show the answer

D. Because both clustering and regular spacing imply a process

Why

The test compares against randomness as the null. A departure in either direction points at a mechanism, and failing to reject tells you the mechanism is not visible at the scale examined.

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