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Statistics LibreTexts
stats.libretexts.org › campus bookshelves › saint mary's college, notre dame › bfe 1201 statistical methods for finance (kuter) › 6: interval estimates
6.2: A Confidence Interval for a Population Mean- Standard Deviation Known or Large Sample Size - Statistics LibreTexts
June 24, 2024 - That something is the margin of error and is driven by the level of confidence we desire to maintain in our estimate, \(z_{\alpha/2}\), times the standard deviation of the sampling distribution. The margin of error for a mean is given the name, Error Bound Mean, or \(EBM\). To construct a confidence interval for a single unknown population mean \(\mu\), where the population standard deviation is known, we need \(\overline X\) as an estimate for \(\mu\) and we need the margin of error.
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Penn State Statistics
online.stat.psu.edu › stat505 › lesson › 5 › 5.2
5.2 - Interval Estimate of Population Mean | STAT 505
Suppose that the sample size is n = 25 and we want a 95% confidence interval for the population mean. Thus \(\alpha = 0.05\). Our textbook would write the multiplier as \(t_{24}(.025)\). In Excel, the command =TINV(.05,24) will give the multiplier (value = 2.064).
People also ask

How do you interpret a confidence interval for a population mean?

Interpreting a confidence interval involves understanding the range of values and the confidence level. For example, if a 90% confidence interval for the population mean travel time is [54.085, 65.915], it means we are 90% confident that the true population mean lies within this range. The confidence level (e.g., 90%) indicates the probability that the interval contains the true mean if the sampling process is repeated multiple times. It does not guarantee that the true mean is within the interval for a specific sample. A narrower interval suggests higher precision, while a wider interval reflects greater uncertainty. Factors like sample size, variability, and confidence level affect the width of the interval. Always ensure the sample is random and meets the assumptions for constructing the interval.

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pearson.com
pearson.com › channels › statistics › learn › patrick › sampling-distributions-and-confidence-intervals-mean › confidence-intervals-for-population-mean
Confidence Intervals for Population Mean Explained: Definition, ...
What is a confidence interval for a population mean, and how is it constructed?

A confidence interval for a population mean provides a range of values within which the true population mean is likely to fall, given a specified confidence level (e.g., 90%, 95%). To construct it, use the sample mean () as a point estimate and calculate the margin of error () using the formula:

Here, is the critical z-value, is the population standard deviation, and is the sample size. If is unknown, use the sample standard deviation () and the t-distribution instead. The confidence interval is then calculated as:

This provides the lower and upper bounds of the interval.

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pearson.com
pearson.com › channels › statistics › learn › patrick › sampling-distributions-and-confidence-intervals-mean › confidence-intervals-for-population-mean
Confidence Intervals for Population Mean Explained: Definition, ...
How do you calculate a confidence interval?
To calculate the confidence interval, you need to know: · The point estimate you are constructing the confidence interval for · The critical values for the test statistic · The standard deviation of the sample · The sample size · Then you can plug these components into the confidence interval formula that corresponds to your data. The formula depends on the type of estimate (e.g. a mean or a proportion) and on the distribution of your data.
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scribbr.com
scribbr.com › home › understanding confidence intervals | easy examples & formulas
Understanding Confidence Intervals | Easy Examples & Formulas
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Scribbr
scribbr.com › home › understanding confidence intervals | easy examples & formulas
Understanding Confidence Intervals | Easy Examples & Formulas
June 22, 2023 - The confidence level is the percentage ... is set by the alpha value. ... A confidence interval is the mean of your estimate plus and minus the variation in that estimate....
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Statistics LibreTexts
stats.libretexts.org › bookshelves › introductory statistics › introductory statistics (shafer and zhang) › 7: estimation
7.1: Large Sample Estimation of a Population Mean - Statistics LibreTexts
March 27, 2023 - A confidence interval for a population mean is an estimate of the population mean together with an indication of reliability. There are different formulas for a confidence interval based on the …
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Socscistatistics
socscistatistics.com › confidenceinterval › default3.aspx
Confidence Interval Calculator
This simple confidence interval calculator uses a Z statistic and sample mean (M) to generate an interval estimate of a population mean (μ).
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Study.com
study.com › skill › learn › how-to-construct-a-confidence-interval-for-a-population-mean-explanation.html
How to Construct a Confidence Interval for a Population Mean | Statistics and Probability | Study.com
A 95% confidence interval for the population mean is {eq}(\$57,161.32, \$57,338.68) {/eq}. A teacher wants to estimate the mean height of all 400 students at her school. She takes a simple random sample of 30 students and finds the sample mean ...
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Select-statistics
select-statistics.co.uk › home › population mean – confidence interval
Population Mean - Confidence Interval - Select Statistical Consultants
February 24, 2016 - The estimate is your ‘best guess’ of the unknown mean and the confidence interval indicates the reliability of this estimate. The confidence interval provides you with a set of limits in which you expect the population mean to lie.
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Dummies
dummies.com › article › academics-the-arts › math › statistics › how-to-calculate-a-confidence-interval-for-a-population-mean-when-you-know-its-standard-deviation-169722
How to Calculate a Confidence Interval When You Know the Standard ...
July 2, 2025 - You estimate the population mean, μ, by using a sample mean, x̄, plus or minus a margin of error. The result is called a confidence interval for the population mean, μ.
Find elsewhere
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OpenStax
openstax.org › books › introductory-business-statistics-2e › pages › 8-1-a-confidence-interval-when-the-population-standard-deviation-is-known-or-large-sample-size
8.1 A Confidence Interval When the Population Standard Deviation Is Known or Large Sample Size - Introductory Business Statistics 2e | OpenStax
December 13, 2023 - We estimate with 90% confidence that the true population mean exam score for all statistics students is between 67.18 and 68.82. Suppose average pizza delivery times are normally distributed with an unknown population mean and a population standard deviation of six minutes. A random sample of 28 pizza delivery restaurants is taken and has a sample mean delivery time of 36 minutes. Find a 90% confidence interval estimate for the population mean delivery time.
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Pearson
pearson.com › channels › statistics › learn › patrick › sampling-distributions-and-confidence-intervals-mean › confidence-intervals-for-population-mean
Confidence Intervals for Population Mean Explained: Definition, Examples, Practice & Video Lessons
November 29, 2024 - We aim to construct a 90% confidence interval for the true population mean travel time, using a population standard deviation (σ) of 18 minutes. Since the population standard deviation is provided, we can utilize the sample mean (x̄) as a point estimate and calculate the margin of error (E) using the formula:
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Confidence_interval
Confidence interval - Wikipedia
October 29, 2025 - Instead, the 95% confidence level ... within approximately 95 of the calculated intervals. A confidence interval is used to estimate a population parameter, such as the mean. For example, the expected value of a fair six-sided die ...
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Penn State Statistics
online.stat.psu.edu › stat415 › book › export › html › 800
Lesson 2: Confidence Intervals for One Mean
Then, we'll derive a formula for a confidence interval for a population mean (called a \(t\)-interval) for the more realistic situation that we don't know the population variance. We'll also spend some time working on understanding the "confidence part" of an interval, as well as learning what factors affect the length of an interval.
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Calculator.net
calculator.net › home › math › confidence interval calculator
Confidence Interval Calculator
A confidence interval is a statistical measure used to indicate the range of estimates within which an unknown statistical parameter is likely to fall. If the parameter is the population mean, the confidence interval is an estimate of possible values of the population mean.
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Investopedia
investopedia.com › terms › c › confidenceinterval.asp
What Is a Confidence Interval and How Do You Calculate It?
May 6, 2025 - Analysts often use confidence level values of 95% or 99% when calculating confidence intervals. Thus, if a point estimate is generated from a statistically significant population with a mean of 10.00 using a 95% confidence interval of 9.50 to ...
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Suppose you have 150 locations altogether, and you decide to base your confidence interval for the mean of the population (for some attribute) from a sample of size 10.

whole = rnorm(150, 50, 7)
x = sample(whole, 10)
summary(x);  length(x);  sd(x)
   Min. 1st Qu.  Median    Mean 3rd Qu.    Max. 
  37.86   43.03   45.24   47.92   52.61   59.93 
[1] 10         # sample size
[1] 7.470816   # sample standard deviation

t.test(x)$conf.int
[1] 42.57347 53.26207
attr(,"conf.level")
[1] 0.95

The mean for the whole company is 50; a 95% confidence interval for the mean is $(42.6, 53.3).$ I used the t.test procedure in R, but the 95% CI can be found from the formula $\bar X \pm t^* S/\sqrt{n},$ where $t^* = 2.262$ cuts probability 2.5% from the upper tail of Student's t distribution with $\nu = n-1 = 9$ degrees of freedom

qt(.975, 9)
[1] 2.262157

mean(x) + qt(c(.025,.975),9)*sd(x)/sqrt(10)
[1] 42.57347 53.26207

If you knew the population standard deviation $\sigma=7,$ then you could use $\bar X \pm 1.96(7/\sqrt{10}),$ which computes to $(42.6,53.3)).$ In general, this method has the potential to be a little more accurate, but there is no difference (to one place accuracy) from the CI above for this example.

mean(x) + qnorm(c(.025,.975))*7/sqrt(10)
[1] 43.57920 52.25633

Notes: (1) You are sampling from a finite population of size 150. As long as the sample size (here $n=10)$ is less than 10% of the population size, these formulas for sampling from essentially infinite populations should give useful results.

(2) These methods assume that the population values are approximately normally distributed. These methods would not work well if you had a few locations that are hugely different from any of the others.

(3) Your idea of doing some sort of stratified sampling so several provinces are represented or that some observations are from urban and some are from rural location might be useful. That would depend on whether there are large differences among provinces or between rural or urban locations. Stratified sampling would make it somewhat more difficult to make a confidence interval.

(4) Here, because I simulated the whole population, we can find the exact population mean and standard deviation and we know that the data are normal. In most actual applications this information would not necessarily be known.

(5) If you have some data for all 100+ scores, you might try the ttest` on a sample of a dozen or so locations to how well it workd in your application.

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Lumen Learning
courses.lumenlearning.com › introstatscorequisite › chapter › a-single-population-mean-using-the-normal-distribution
Estimating a Population Mean | Introduction to Statistics Corequisite
Since we are estimating the lower ... confidence interval for a population mean with a known standard deviation is based on the fact that the sample means follow an approximately normal distribution....
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Introduction to Econometrics with R
econometrics-with-r.org › 3.4-confidence-intervals-for-the-population-mean.html
3.4 Confidence Intervals for the Population Mean | Introduction to Econometrics with R
t.test(sampledata) #> #> One Sample t-test #> #> data: sampledata #> t = 12.346, df = 99, p-value < 2.2e-16 #> alternative hypothesis: true mean is not equal to 0 #> 95 percent confidence interval: #> 9.306651 12.871096 #> sample estimates: #> mean of x #> 11.08887
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Penn State Statistics
online.stat.psu.edu › statprogram › reviews › statistical-concepts › confidence-intervals
S.2 Confidence Intervals | STAT ONLINE
If we are interested in estimating a population mean \(\mu\), it is very likely that we would use the t-interval for a population mean \(\mu\). ... the "t-multiplier," which we denote as \(t_{\alpha/2, n-1}\), depends on the sample size through n - 1 (called the "degrees of freedom") and the confidence level \((1-\alpha)\times100%\) through \(\frac{\alpha}{2}\).