The Central Limit Theorem

Contents: Objective Basic Principles Examples Exercises

^ Objective

^ Basic Principles

If the parent distribution is normal, the sampling distribution of the mean is normal with the same mean and a standard deviation that is reduced by a factor of the square root of n (the sample size) relative to the parent distribution. Remarkably, this conclusion holds approximately even if the parent distribution is not normal. This latter result is called the Central Limit Theorem.

^ Examples

Example #1 illustrates the central limit theorem when the underlying distribution is normal or chi-square.

Example #2 illustrates the central limit theorem when the underlying distribution is uniform, bowtie, right wedge, left wedge, and triangular.

^ Exercises

Exercise #1 requires you to discuss the central limit theorem when the underlying distribution is uniform, bowtie, right wedge, left wedge, and triangular.

Exercise #2 requires you to discuss how the sampling distribution of the mean depends on n and the shape of the underlying parent distribution.

Exercise #3 requires you to discuss how the variability of the sampling distribution of the mean depends on n and the underlying symmetric parent distributions.