Stat 151 Module 8: The Role of Table t

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms and concepts related to statistical inference for means, the t-distribution, and the application of confidence intervals and hypothesis tests.

Inference for the Mean(s)

Process of making population inferences for the mean values of quantitative variables.

Sampling Distribution

The distribution of sample means over many samples drawn from the same population.

Confidence Interval

A range of values used to estimate the true value of a population parameter.

Hypothesis Test

A method of statistical inference used to decide whether to accept or reject a hypothesis based on sample data.

Degrees of Freedom (df)

A parameter that describes the number of independent values in a statistical calculation; calculated as n - 1 when testing the mean of one population.

t-distribution

A probability distribution that is symmetric and bell-shaped, used when the population standard deviation is unknown.

Standard Normal Curve

A normal distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1 that is used for comparison.

Standard Error

The standard deviation of the sampling distribution of a statistic, commonly denoted as SE.

Central Limit Theorem (CLT)

States that the sampling distribution of the sample mean will be approximately normally distributed if the sample size is sufficiently large (n ≥ 30).

Critical Value (t*)

A point on the scale of the test statistic that is compared to the test statistic to determine whether to reject the null hypothesis.