Nonparametric comparison of mean directions or mean axes

Abstract

Samples of directional or axial measurements arise in geophysical, biological and econometric contexts. We represent the rotational difference between two mean directions (or two mean axes) as a direction (or axis). We then construct nonparametric simultaneous confidence sets for all pair-wise rotational differences among the mean directions or mean axes of $s$ samples. By specialization, this methodology yields nonparametric simultaneous tests for pairwise equality of directional means or axes.