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In probability theory, the central limit theorem (CLT) states that, under appropriate conditions, the distribution of a normalized version of the sample mean converges to a standard normal distribution. This holds even if the original variables themselves are not normally distributed. There are several versions of the CLT, each applying in the ...
Because of the central limit theorem, many test statistics are approximately normally distributed for large samples.Therefore, many statistical tests can be conveniently performed as approximate Z-tests if the sample size is large or the population variance is known.
The characteristic function approach is particularly useful in analysis of linear combinations of independent random variables: a classical proof of the Central Limit Theorem uses characteristic functions and Lévy's continuity theorem. Another important application is to the theory of the decomposability of random variables.
Comparison of probability density functions, () for the sum of fair 6-sided dice to show their convergence to a normal distribution with increasing , in accordance to the central limit theorem. In the bottom-right graph, smoothed profiles of the previous graphs are rescaled, superimposed and compared with a normal distribution (black curve).
The i.i.d. assumption is also used in the central limit theorem, which states that the probability distribution of the sum (or average) of i.i.d. variables with finite variance approaches a normal distribution. [4] The i.i.d. assumption frequently arises in the context of sequences of random variables. Then, "independent and identically ...
The central limit theorem gives only an asymptotic distribution. As an approximation for a finite number of observations, it provides a reasonable approximation only when close to the peak of the normal distribution; it requires a very large number of observations to stretch into the tails.
This section illustrates the central limit theorem via an example for which the computation can be done quickly by hand on paper, unlike the more computing-intensive example of the previous section. Sum of all permutations of length 1 selected from the set of integers 1, 2, 3
Stein's method is a general method in probability theory to obtain bounds on the distance between two probability distributions with respect to a probability metric.It was introduced by Charles Stein, who first published it in 1972, [1] to obtain a bound between the distribution of a sum of -dependent sequence of random variables and a standard normal distribution in the Kolmogorov (uniform ...