Chapter 6
Sampling Distributions
1
Introduction
Generally, we are interested in population
parameters.
When the census is impossible, we draw a sample
from the population, then construct sample statistics,
that have close relationship to the population
parameters.
2
Introduction
Samples are random, so the sample statistic is a
random variable.
As such it has a sampling distribution.
3
8.1 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
Example 1: A die is thrown infinitely many times. Let
X represent the number of spots showing on any
throw. The probability distribution of X is
x 1 2 3 4 5 6
p(x) 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6 1/6
E(X) = 1(1/6) +2(1/6) + 3(1/6)+………………….=
4 3.5
V(X) = (1-3.5)2(1/6) + (2-3.5)2(1/6) +….……. …= 2.92
Suppose we want to estimate m from the mean
of a sample of size n = 2.
What is the distribution of x ?
5
Throwing a die twice – sample mean
These are And these
all the are the
possible means
pairs of each
of values forpair
the 2 throws
Sample Mean Sample Mean Sample Mean
1 1,1 1 13 3,1 2 25 5,1 3
2 1,2 1.5 14 3,2 2.5 26 5,2 3.5
3 1,3 2 15 3,3 3 27 5,3 4
4 1,4 2.5 16 3,4 3.5 28 5,4 4.5
5 1,5 3 17 3,5 4 29 5,5 5
6 1,6 3.5 18 3,6 4.5 30 5,6 5.5
7 2,1 1.5 19 4,1 2.5 31 6,1 3.5
8 2,2 2 20 4,2 3 32 6,2 4
9 2,3 2.5 21 4,3 3.5 33 6,3 4.5
10 2,4 3 22 4,4 4 34 6,4 5
11 2,5 3.5 23 4,5 4.5 35 6,5 5.5
12 2,6 4 24 4,6 5 36 6,6 6
6
The distribution of x when n = 2
Calculating the relative frequency of each value
of x we have the following results
1 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
Frequency 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1
Relative freq 1/36 2/36 3/36 4/36 5/36 6/36 5/36 4/36 3/36 2/36 1/36
(1+1)/2 = 1 (1+2)/2 = 1.5 (1+3)/2 = 2 Notice there are 36 possible
(2+1)/2 = 1.5 (2+2)/2 = 2 pairs of values:
(3+1)/2 = 2 1,1 1,2 ….. 1,6
2,1 2,2 ….. 2,6
………………..
6,1 6,2 ….. 6,6
7
n=5 n = 10 n = 25
m x = 3.5 m x = 3.5 m x = 3.5
2x 2x 2x
= .5833 ( = )
2
x x = .2917 ( = )
2
= .1167 ( = )
2
x
5 10 25
As the sample size changes, the mean of the
sample mean does not change!
n=5 n = 10 n = 25
m x = 3.5 m x = 3.5 m x = 3.5
2x 2x 2x
= .5833 ( = )
2
x x = .2917 ( = )
2
= .1167 ( = )
2
x
5 10 25
As the sample size increases, the
variance of the sample mean decreases!
Demonstration: Why is the variance of the
sample mean is smaller than the population
variance?
Mean = 1.5 Mean = 2. Mean = 2.5
Population 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Compare
Let usthe range
take of the population
samples
to the range
of two of the sample mean.
observations.
10
The Central Limit Theorem
If a random sample is drawn from any population, the
sampling distribution of the sample mean is:
– Normal if the parent population is normal,
– Approximately normal if the parent population is
not normal, provided the sample size is
sufficiently large. The larger the sample size, the
more closely the sampling distribution of x will
resemble a normal distribution.
11
The mean of X is equal to the mean of the parent
population
μx = μx
The variance of X is equal to the parent population
variance divided by ‘n’.
2
σ
σ =
2
x
x
n
12
n Sampling Distribution
1 Population distribution
30
30
50
70
90
120
Census
n Sampling Distribution
1 Normal
Pop distribution
3
0
Example 2: The amount of soda pop in each bottle is
normally distributed with a mean of 32.2 ounces and
a standard deviation of .3 ounces.
Find the probability that a bottle bought by a
customer will contain more than 32 ounces.
0.7486
P(x 32)
x = 32 m = 32.2
x − μ 32 − 32.2
P(x 32) = P( ) = P(z −.67) = 0.7486
σx .3
16
Find the probability that a carton of four bottles will
have a mean of more than 32 ounces of soda per
bottle.
x − m 32 − 32.2
P( x 32) = P( )
x .3 4
= P( z −1.33) = 0.9082
P(x 32)
x = 32 m x = 32.2
17
Example 3: The average weekly income of B.B.A
graduates one year after graduation is $600. Suppose
the distribution of weekly income has a standard
deviation of $100.
What is the probability that 35 randomly selected
graduates have an average weekly income of less than
$550?
x − μ 550 − 600
P(x 550) = P( )
σx 100 35
= P(z −2.97) = 0.0015
18
