Chapter 4.

Estimation of Parameters

LESSON 1. COMPUTING THE POINT ESTIMATE OF A POPULATION MEAN

Activity 1.
Collect information about the wake up time of 20 person in your friends during
school days. Represent each information by tally mark. Then, count the tally
marks and write the corresponding decimal numeral under the heading
frequency.

Wake up time
Prepare a tally board with the following headings and entries

Time Tally Frequency

4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
Total
average

1. Fill out the table using tally marks. A tally mark is a vertical stroke

Example

2. After the last person in a tally mark, count the tally marks for every row
and put tis number under the heading frequency

3. What is the average wake up time of your class?

The arithmetic average computed from the table is also known as the mean.
The class constitute a sample. If we repeat the activity to, say, ten random
classes, then we obtain ten arithmetic averages or means. Suppose wwe
proceed to compute the mean of the mean for all ten (10) classes. The final
result is a number that is called POINT ESTIMATE of the mean 𝜇 of the
population where the samples come from. In symbols we write:
̅̅̅̅
𝑋𝑋̅ = 𝜇
This expression is read as “ the mean of the means is equal to population mean
𝜇”

Remember:
An Estimate is a value or a range of values that approximate a parameter. It is
based on sample statistics computed from sample data.
Estimation is the process of determining parameter values.
Point estimate is a specified numerical value of a population parameter. The
sample mean 𝑋̅ is the best point estimate of the population mean
Interval estimate is a range of values that may contain the parameter of the
population.

A good estimator has the following properties:

1. When the mean of a sample statistic from a large number of different
random samples equals the true population parameter, then sample
statistic is an unbiased estimate of the population parameter
2. Across the many repeated sample, the estimates are not very far from the
true parameter.

Example 1:

Study the following situation and do the task. Then, answer the following
questions or supply the missing information.
Ms. Samaniego’s company sells bottled coconut juice. He claims that a
bottle contain 500 ml of such juice. A consumer group wanted to know if his
claim is true. They took six random samples of 10 such bottles and
obtained the capacity, in ml, of each bottle . the result is shown as follows:
Sample 1 500 498 497 503 499 497 497 497 497 495
Sample 2 500 500 495 494 498 500 500 500 500 497
Sample 3 497 497 502 496 497 497 497 497 497 495
Sample 4 501 495 500 497 497 500 500 495 497 497
Sample 5 502 497 497 499 496 497 497 499 500 500
Sample 6 496 497 496 495 497 497 500 500 496 497

Solution:

When dealing with the large number of values, the mean of small samples may
be obtained. These means constitute a sampling of distribution mean. To fin
the over all mean, find the sum of the mean values. Then, ivied this sum by the
total number of sample means.
For example, let us consider the six sample rows of the 60 bottles as excellent
sample. Next, we compute each row mean

step 1.

For sample 1.

500 + 498 + 497 + 503 + 499 + 497 + 497 + 497 + 497 + 495
𝑋̅ =
10
4980
𝑋̅ =
10
= 𝟒𝟗𝟖
For sample 2.

500 + 500 + 495 + 494 + 498 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 500 + 497
𝑋̅ =
10
4984
𝑋̅ =
10
= 𝟒𝟗𝟖. 𝟒
RESULT:
Sample row Sum of scores mean
1 4980 498
2 4984 498.4
3 4972 497.2
4 4979 497.9
5 4984 498.4
6 4971 497.1
Over all mean 497.8333

The point estimate of the estimate population parameter is 497.83

Step 2.

After computing the overall mean, compute the standard deviation of the 60
bottled drinks

Formula:

Steps
1. Find the sum
of the values (498 − 497.83)2 + (498.4 − 497.83)2 + ⋯ + (497.1 − 497.83)2
in the 𝑠2 =
6−1
numerator 0.0289 + 0.3249 + 0.3969 + 0.0049 + 0.3249 + 0.5329
and divide it. =
5
1.6134
=
5
= 0.32268

The result is called variance

2. Find the
standard
deviation Σ(𝑋 − 𝑋̅ )2
𝑠=√
𝑛−1
= √0.32268
= 0.568
Activity 2.
Coco juice revisited
1. Proceeding the same situation in example 1, compute the mean for each
column
2. Compute the sum of the means
3. Divide this sum by the number of means. The result is called over all
mean
4. The overall mean is the point estimate of the population mean. What is
this number?
5. Find the variance and standard deviation.
sample 1 sample2 sample3 sample4 sample5 sample6 sample7 sample8 sample9 sample10
500 498 497 503 499 497 497 497 497 495
500 500 495 494 498 500 500 500 500 497
497 497 502 496 497 497 497 497 497 495
501 495 500 497 497 500 500 495 497 497
502 497 497 499 496 497 497 499 500 500
496 497 496 495 497 497 500 500 496 497