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Statistics Minitab - Lab 8: and Standard Deviation

The Central Limit Theorem states that for large sample sizes, the sampling distribution of sample means will approach a normal distribution, regardless of the shape of the original population. This lab uses Minitab to simulate random variables from an exponential distribution and generate sampling distributions of the mean for different sample sizes. The results show that as sample size increases, the sampling distribution of the mean becomes more symmetrical and bell-shaped, approaching a normal distribution as predicted by the Central Limit Theorem. Additionally, the standard deviation of the sampling distributions decreases as sample size increases. This illustrates how the Central Limit Theorem makes larger samples more predictable.

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Andrè Alejandro Mazuelos Carpio
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70 views5 pages

Statistics Minitab - Lab 8: and Standard Deviation

The Central Limit Theorem states that for large sample sizes, the sampling distribution of sample means will approach a normal distribution, regardless of the shape of the original population. This lab uses Minitab to simulate random variables from an exponential distribution and generate sampling distributions of the mean for different sample sizes. The results show that as sample size increases, the sampling distribution of the mean becomes more symmetrical and bell-shaped, approaching a normal distribution as predicted by the Central Limit Theorem. Additionally, the standard deviation of the sampling distributions decreases as sample size increases. This illustrates how the Central Limit Theorem makes larger samples more predictable.

Uploaded by

Andrè Alejandro Mazuelos Carpio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Statistics MINITAB - Lab 8

Central Limit Theorem

The Central Limit Theorem is one of the most important theorems in statistics. The statement of
the theorem (without proof) is:

Consider a random sample of size n selected from a population (any population) with
mean  and standard deviation .

Then, when n is sufficiently large, the sampling distribution of x will be


approximately a normal distribution with mean  x =  and standard deviation
 x =  / n . The larger the sample size, the better will be the normal approximation
to the sampling distribution of x

What this means is that for any population distribution, regardless of shape etc., if we repeatedly
take samples of a large enough size and record the sample means, then the distribution of those
means will approach a normal distribution with a mean the same as the population mean, and a
standard deviation equal to the population standard deviation divided by the square root of the
sample size. We will now look at the sampling distribution of the mean from a skewed distribution
(the exponential).

1. The exponential distribution is an asymmetric continuous probability distribution. The


probability distribution function for the exponential is:

x
1 
f  x  e where the mean =  and the standard deviation = 

Using MINITAB (release 13.20) generate random variables from an exponential population
with parameter  = 20.

Go the CALC > RANDOM DATA > EXPONENTIAL generate 1000 rows of data and store in
columns C1-C50, with a mean of 20:

1
How many rows of
data do you want
in each column?

How many columns


of data do you
want? Specify
which columns you

What is the mean


of the distribution
you want to
simulate?

2. Have a look at the shape of the distribution of these random variables and their descriptive
statistics:

Go to STAT > BASIC STATISTICS > DISPLAY DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS.


Then select column C1 and click on GRAPHS > HISTOGRAM OF DATA, WITH NORMAL
CURVE. This will give both the normal descriptive statistics in the session window and also
draw a histogram of the data with a normal curve superimposed on it.

What is the mean of C1 ____________

What is the standard deviation of C1____________

Describe the shape of the histogram (could we consider this a normal distribution, why ?)

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Have a quick look at C2, C3 and C4 aswell.

2
3. First we will get a sampling distribution of means for a sample size of n=2.

Go to the CALC menu and click on ROW STATISTICS. Select the mean as the statistic of
interest and input variables columns C1-C2. Store the result in C51. Name column C51 n=2.
Column C51 now contains 1000 means from samples of size n=2 from an exponential population
with parameter  = 20. These 1000 means are a sampling distribution of the mean.

What statistic
do you want?

You want the


mean of C1 and
C2.

Next available
column.

We want to look at the sampling distribution of the mean for different sample sizes. Repeat this
step 3 more times using the following:

Input variable Store Result Name for column


C1-C5 C52 n=5
C1-C15 C53 n=15
C1-C50 C54 n=50

Columns C51-C54 contain sampling distributions of the mean for samples of sizes 2, 5, 15 and
50 respectively from a exponential population with parameter  = 20. Get descriptive statistics
and histograms with a normal distribution curve superimposed on it for each of the columns C51-
C54. Fill in the following table:

Standard Expected Standard


Sample Size Mean Median Skew ?
Deviation Deviation by C.L.T. *

3
n=2

n=5

n = 15

n = 50

* C.L.T. = Central Limit Theorem

What is the expected mean for each case (by the C.L.T.) ? _______________

What pattern are you seeing with regard to shape (skew symmetry, bell shape etc.) as the
sample size increase ?
____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____

____________________________________________________________________________

__

What pattern can you see in the standard deviation of the sampling distributions as the sample
size increases ? Why might this be important ? (NB: the standard deviation of a sampling
distribution of the mean is often called the standard error of the mean).
____________________________________________________________________________

__

____________________________________________________________________________

__

REVISION SUMMARY

After this lab you should be able to :

- Understand the Central Limit Theorem


- Simulate data with a specific distribution
- Generate a histogram with the normal curve superimposed on it
- Create a sampling distribution of means
- Work out expected mean/standard deviation by the CLT

END

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