FPT UNIVERSITY
———o0o———
Chapter 7:
Sampling Distribution
Course Name: Applied Statistics for Business
Lecturer: Dr. Duong Thi Viet An
Hanoi, 2025
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Content
1 7.1 Sampling Distributions
2 7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
3 7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
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7.1 Sampling Distributions
7.1 Sampling Distributions
• A sampling distribution is a distribution of all of the possible values
of a sample statistic for a given sample size selected from a population.
For example, suppose you sample 50 students from your college regard-
ing their mean GPA. If you obtained many different samples of size 50,
you will compute a different mean for each sample. We are interested
in the distribution of all potential mean GPAs we might calculate for
samples of 50 students.
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
The sampling distribution of the mean is the distribution of all
possible sample means if you select all possible samples of a given
size.
Example 1. Consider a population of four administrative assistants.
Each assistant is asked to apply the same set of updates to a human
resources database. The following table presents the number of errors
made by each of the administrative assistants.
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
The population mean is
X
Xi
3+2+1+4
i
µ= =
= 2.5
N 4
The population standard deviation is
s r
1 X 2 2 1 2
σ= Xi − µ = (3 + 22 + 12 + 42 ) − 2.52 ≈ 1.12
N 4
i
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
The Unbiased Property of the Sample Mean
The mean of all the possible sample means (of a given sample size) is
equal to the population mean.
Note. The sample mean is an unbiased estimator of the population mean.
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
Sampling Distribution of the Mean
If we sample from a population with mean µ and standard deviation
σ, then
σ
µX = µ, σX = √
n
(σX is called the standard error of the mean)
If the population is normally distributed, then X is also normally
distributed.
If the population is not normally distributed, then X is approximately
normally distributed for a sufficiently large sample size (The Central
Limit Theorem)
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
Note.
When n ≥ 30, the sampling distribution of the mean is approximately
normal.
We can apply the Central Limit Theorem for even smaller sample
sizes if the population distribution is approximately bell-shaped.
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
Finding Z for the sampling distribution of the mean
The Z value is equal to the difference between the sample mean, X, and
the population mean, µ, divided by the standard error of the mean, σX
X − µX X −µ
Z= = σ .
σX √
n
Finding X for the sampling distribution of the mean
σ
X = µ+Z√ .
n
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
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7.2 Sampling Distribution of the Mean
Example 2. The diameter of a brand of tennis balls is approximately
normally distributed, with a mean of 2.63 inches and a standard deviation
of 0.03 inch. If you select a random sample of nine tennis balls,
a) what is the sampling distribution of the mean?
b) what is the probability that the sample mean is less than 2.61 inches?
c) what is the probability that the sample mean is between 2.62 and
2.64 inches?
d) The probability is 60% that the sample mean will be between what
two values symmetrically distributed around the population mean?
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
The population proportion, π, is the proportion of items in the entire
population with the characteristic of interest.
The sample proportion p is used to estimate π.
Sample Proportion
X Number of items having the characteristic of interest
p= =
n Sample size
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
Sampling Distribution of a Sample Proportion
p is approximately normally distributed provided that nπ ≥ 5 and
n(1 − π) ≥ 5.
r
π(1 − π)
µp = π, σp =
n
(σp is called the standard error of the proportion)
Note. p is an unbiased estimator of the population proportion, π.
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
Example 3. What do millennials around the world want in a job?
A Deloitte survey of millennials on work-life challenges found that
millennials are looking for stability in an uncertain world, with 65% of
millennials preferring a permanent, full-time job rather than working
freelance or as a consultant on a flexible or short-term basis. Suppose
you select a sample of 100 millennials.
a) What is the probability that in the sample fewer than 70% prefer
a permanent, full-time job?
b) What is the probability that in the sample between 60% and
70% prefer a permanent, full-time job?
c) What is the probability that in the sample more than 70% prefer
a permanent, full-time job?
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
Exercises
Exercises: 7.6, 7.8, 7.10 (page 264), 7.12, 7.14, 7.18 (page 266-267).
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
Sample Questions
Question 1: The mean and the standard deviation of a population are
113.9 and 32.1, respectively. Find the mean and standard deviation of
the sampling distribution of the sample mean of size 64.
a) Mean = 113.9; standard deviation = 4.0
b) Mean = 113.9; standard deviation = 32.1
c) Mean = 113.9; standard deviation = 2.3
d) Mean = 4.0; standard deviation = 113.9
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7.3 Sampling Distribution of the Proportion
Sample Questions
Question 2: According to a survey, only 15% of customers who visited
the web site of a major retail store made a purchase.
What is the probability that a random sample of 50 will have at least
30% of customers who will make a purchase after visiting the web site?
Let
P (Z < −0.99) = 0.1611, P (Z < 2.97) = 0.9985,
P (Z < 0.3) = 0.6179, P (Z < 2.71) = 0.9966.
a) 0.0015
b) 0.9985
c) 0.0033
d) 0.9966
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