Parameters & Estimators

Inference, estimation, and decision-making from data

Almost every statistical question has the same shape. There is some true number out in the world you can't see, the parameter θ (a true mean, a true success probability). You only have a finite sample of data. From that data you compute a guess, the estimator θ̂. Estimation is the art of building good guesses and knowing how much to trust them.

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