Confidence Interval Standard Error 1.96
normal distribution calculator to find the value of z to use for a confidence interval Compute a confidence interval on the mean when σ is known Determine whether to use a t distribution or a normal distribution Compute a confidence interval on the mean when σ is estimated View Multimedia Version When you compute a confidence interval on the mean, you compute the mean of a sample in order to estimate the mean of the population. Clearly, if you already knew the population mean, there would be no need for a confidence interval. However, to explain how confidence intervals are constructed, we are going to work backwards and begin by assuming characteristics of the population. Then we will show how sample data can be used to construct a confidence interval. Assume that the weights of 10-year-old children are normally distributed with a mean of 90 and a standard deviation of 36. What is the sampling distribution of the mean for a sample size of 9? Recall from the section on the sampling distribution of the mean that the mean of the sampling distribution is μ and the standard error of the mean is For the present example, the sampling distribution of the mean has a mean of 90 and a standard deviation of 36/3 = 12. Note that the standard deviation of a sampling distribution is its standard error. Figure 1 shows this distribution. The shaded area represents the middle 95% of the distribution and stretches from 66.48 to 113.52. These limits were computed by adding and subtracting 1.96 standard deviations to/from the mean of 90 as follows: 90 - (1.96)(12) = 66.48 90 + (1.96)(12) = 113.52 The value of 1.96 is based on the fact that 95% of the area of a normal distribution is within 1.96 standard deviations of the mean; 12 is the standard error of the mean. Figure 1. The sampling distribution of the mean for N=9. The middle 95% of the distribution is shaded. Figure 1 shows that 95% of the means are no more than 23.52 units (1.96 standard deviations) from the mean of 90. Now consider the probability that a sample mean computed in a random sample is within 23.52 units of the population mean of 90. Since 95% of the distributi
normal distribution calculator to find the value of z to use for a confidence interval Compute a confidence interval on the mean when σ is known Determine whether to use a t distribution or a normal distribution Compute a confidence interval on the mean when σ is estimated View Multimedia Version When you compute a confidence interval on the mean, you compute the mean of a sample in order to estimate the mean of the population. Clearly, if you already knew the population mean, there would http://onlinestatbook.com/2/estimation/mean.html be no need for a confidence interval. However, to explain how confidence intervals are constructed, we are going to work backwards and begin by assuming characteristics of the population. Then we will show how sample data can be used to construct a confidence interval. Assume that the weights of 10-year-old children are normally distributed with a mean of 90 http://onlinestatbook.com/2/estimation/mean.html and a standard deviation of 36. What is the sampling distribution of the mean for a sample size of 9? Recall from the section on the sampling distribution of the mean that the mean of the sampling distribution is μ and the standard error of the mean is For the present example, the sampling distribution of the mean has a mean of 90 and a standard deviation of 36/3 = 12. Note that the standard deviation of a sampling distribution is its standard error. Figure 1 shows this distribution. The shaded area represents the middle 95% of the distribution and stretches from 66.48 to 113.52. These limits were computed by adding and subtracting 1.96 standard deviations to/from the mean of 90 as follows: 90 - (1.96)(12) = 66.48 90 + (1.96)(12) = 113.52 The value of 1.96 is based on the fact that 95% of the area of a normal distribution is within 1.96 standard deviations of the mean; 12 is the standard error of the mean. Figure 1. The sampling distr
estimated range being calculated from a given set of sample data. (Definition taken from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's Statistics Glossary v1.1) The common notation for the parameter in question is . Often, http://www.stat.yale.edu/Courses/1997-98/101/confint.htm this parameter is the population mean , which is estimated through the