Chapter Terminology
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Chapter Six Terms

Chapter Six Terminology
Estimator - A formula or process for using sample data to estimate a population parameter such as a mean, variance, standard deviation or a proportion.

Estimate - A specific value or range of values used to approximate a population parameter.

Point Estimate - A single value used to approximate a population parameter. For example, the sample mean is a point estimate of the population mean.

Confidence Interval - A range or interval of values used to estimate the true value of the population parameter.

Critical Value - The number that separates the sample statistics that are likely to occur from those that are unlikely to occur.

Margin of Error - The maximum likely difference between the observed sample value and the true value of the parameter.

Degrees of Freedom - The number of sample values that can vary after certain restrictions have been imposed upon the data values.

Student t-Distribution- A bell-shaped distribution with greater variability than the standard normal distribution. Used to estimate population mean when there is only a small sample available (30 or less).

Chi-Square Distribution- A non-symmetric distribution used to estimate the variance and standard deviation parameters.