Chapter 6: Distribution of the Sample Mean and the Central Limit Theorem
There are two types of statistics: descriptive and inferential. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on descriptive statistics; chapters 3, 4, and 5 are about probability (topics from these chapters will reappear in later chapters); chapters seven and all chapters after that will focus on inferential statistics. This chapter introduces the distribution of the sample mean and the central limit theorem, which provides a foundation for inferential statistics.
As a result of completing this chapter, you will be able to do the following:
- Explain the difference between a statistic and a parameter.
- Explain the relationships among a parameter, an estimator, and a point estimate.
- Describe how to obtain the sampling distribution of the sample mean.
- Explain and describe the distribution of sample mean in three aspects: mean, standard deviation, and shape.
- Explain the central limit theorem in plain English.
- Apply the central limit theorem to answer questions about the sample mean.
