Statistics and Probability · Estimation

Point estimation

Using sample data to produce a single best-guess number for an unknown population value.

Also known as: estimators, bias of an estimator, maximum likelihood estimation, MLE.

Start a lesson on Point estimation

Learn first

• Sampling and sampling distributions: How a statistic, like a sample mean, itself varies from sample to sample if you repeated the study.

Leads to

• Confidence intervals: A range, instead of a single number, built to contain the true value a stated percentage of the time.
• Linear regression: Fitting a straight line that best predicts one variable from another, and reading its slope as an effect size.
• Bayesian inference: Updating a starting belief about a parameter into a revised belief, using Bayes' theorem and observed data.

Related topics

• Bayesian inference: Updating a starting belief about a parameter into a revised belief, using Bayes' theorem and observed data.