CHAPTER 6

Estimation

Chapter Outline

6.1 Estimating the Population Mean

6.2 Sampling Error

6.3 The Sampling Distribution of the Sample Mean

The Shape of the Distribution

Unbiased Estimators

Sampling Variance

Putting It All Together

Confidence Intervals

6.4 The t Distribution

6.5 Confidence Intervals Using the t Distribution

Do Not Forget the Square Root of the Sample Size

Choosing a Confidence Level

Choosing a Sample Size

Sampling from Finite Populations

Exercises

While the individual man is an insolvable puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to.

—Sherlock Holmes

Businesses use data to estimate ...

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