Second-difference test of a linear mean profile

At equally spaced distinct times, a mean profile is affine exactly when its consecutive second differences vanish. These form $p-2$ independent contrasts. At unequal times, compare adjacent slopes instead: $({\mu }_{i+1}-{\mu }_i)/(t_{i+1}-t_i)-({\mu }_i-{\mu }_{i-1})/(t_i-t_{i-1})$. A Hotelling test of linear hypotheses tests these restrictions jointly with unknown covariance.