Chapter 8

Drawing Inferences from

Large Samples

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• The problem of statistical inference arises
when we wish to make generalizations
about a population when only a sample will
be available.

• Our principal concern is what can be said

about the population based on the
information extracted from analyzing the
sample data. We call these generalizations
statistical inferences or just inferences.

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 2: Point Estimation of A
population Mean
• The object of point estimation is to calculate
a single number that is likely to be close to
the unknown value of the parameter.

• We wish to formulate a statistic such that

its value computed from the sample data
would reflect the value of the population
parameter as closely as possible.

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1. E ( X )  

2. sd(X) 
n
3.With large n, X is nearly normally distributed with mean

 and standard deviation
n

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 2: Point Estimation of A
population Mean
• In a normal distribution, the interval
running two standard deviations on either
side of the mean contains probability 0.954.
• This probability statement can be phrased
by saying that when we are estimating μ by
X , the 95.4% error margin (standard
deviation) is 2
n

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Figure 8.1 (p. 294)
Approximate normal distribution of X .
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Box on Page 294
Notation
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Figure 8.2 (p. 295)
The notation za/2.
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To illustrate the notation, suppose we want to
determine the 90% error margin. We then set
1-α=0.9 so
α/2=0.05 and z0.05=1.645.
Therefore, when estimating μ by
X-bar, the 90% error margin is
1.645
n

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Table 8.2 (p. 295)
Values of za/2
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Box on Page 295
Point Estimation of the Mean
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In order to determine how large a sample is
needed for estimating a population mean, we
must specify
d= desired error margin
1-α=probability associated with error margin

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Example 2

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 3: Confidence Interval
for A Population Mean
• Ideally, we would like to be able to collect a
sample and then use it to calculate an interval
that would definitely contain the true value of
the parameter. However, it is not achievable.
• But, we can be certain that at a specified high
probability, the interval will contain the true
value. This is called the level of confidence.

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The normal table show that the probability is
0.95 that a normal random variable will lie within
1.96 standard deviation from its mean.

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Figure 8.5 (p. 303)
Normal distribution of X .
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 Example 3
• The daily CO emission from a large production
plant is measured on 25 randomly selected
weekdays. The production process is always being
modified and the current mean value of daily CO
emission is unknown. Data collected over several
years confirm that, the distribution of CO
emission is normal with standard deviation of 0.8
ton. Suppose sample mean is found to be 2.7 tons.
Please construct a 95% confidence interval for the
current daily mean emission.

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 Example 4
• A sample of 48 students at a large Midwestern
university answered the question, “how many
minutes did you spend on the social network site
yesterday?” The mean time is 35.96 minutes and
standard deviation is 29.11 minutes. Construct the
90% and 80% confidence intervals for the
population mean time per day that college
students spend on the social network site.

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4:Testing Hypotheses about A Population
Mean

Box on Page 309

Formulation of H0 and H1
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Remember:
A decision to reject H0 must be
based on strong evidence. Otherwise,
the claim H1 could not be established
beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Box 2 on Page 310
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 Example 5
A brochure inviting subscriptions for a new
diet program states that the participants are
expected to lose over 22 pounds in five
weeks. Suppose that, from the data of 56
participants, the sample and standard
deviation are found to be 23.5 and 10.2
pounds. Could the statement in the brochure
be substantiated on the basis of these
findings? Test with α=0.05, interpret the
result.

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Figure 8.11 (p. 317)
Right-sided rejection region with  = .05.
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Figure 8.12 (p. 318)
P-value with right-sided rejection region.
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Box on Page 316
The Steps for Testing Hypotheses.
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Box on Page 320
Large Sample Tests for 
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