The data from a normal distribution are symmetric about its mean, not about zero. There is, therefore nothing strange about all the values being negative.
It is not negative. it is positively skewed, and it approaches a normal distribution as the degrees of freedom increase. Its shape is NEVER based on the sample size.
When the population standard deviation is known, the sample distribution is a normal distribution if the sample size is sufficiently large, typically due to the Central Limit Theorem. If the sample size is small and the population from which the sample is drawn is normally distributed, the sample distribution will also be normal. In such cases, statistical inference can be performed using z-scores.
The t distribution is a probability distribution that is symmetric and bell-shaped, similar to the normal distribution, but has heavier tails. It is used in statistics, particularly for small sample sizes, to estimate population parameters when the population standard deviation is unknown. The t distribution accounts for the additional uncertainty introduced by estimating the standard deviation from the sample. As the sample size increases, the t distribution approaches the normal distribution.
The t-distribution and the normal distribution are not exactly the same. The t-distribution is approximately normal, but since the sample size is so small, it is not exact. But n increases (sample size), degrees of freedom also increase (remember, df = n - 1) and the distribution of t becomes closer and closer to a normal distribution. Check out this picture for a visual explanation: http://www.uwsp.edu/PSYCH/stat/10/Image87.gif
The sampling distribution of the sample mean (( \bar{x} )) will be approximately normally distributed if the sample size is sufficiently large, typically due to the Central Limit Theorem. This theorem states that regardless of the population's distribution, the sampling distribution of the sample mean will tend to be normal as the sample size increases, generally n ≥ 30 is considered adequate. However, if the population distribution is already normal, the sampling distribution of ( \bar{x} ) will be normally distributed for any sample size.
The distribution of sample means will not be normal if the number of samples does not reach 30.
The distribution of the sample mean is bell-shaped or is a normal distribution.
Yes. You could have a biased sample. Its distribution would not necessarily match the distribution of the parent population.
It is not negative. it is positively skewed, and it approaches a normal distribution as the degrees of freedom increase. Its shape is NEVER based on the sample size.
Not necessarily. It needs to be a random sample from independent identically distributed variables. Although that requirement can be relaxed, the result will be that the sample means will diverge from the Normal distribution.
It approaches a normal distribution.
The F distribution is used to test whether two population variances are the same. The sampled populations must follow the normal distribution. Therefore, as the sample size increases, the F distribution approaches the normal distribution.
The central limit theorem basically states that for any distribution, the distribution of the sample means approaches a normal distribution as the sample size gets larger and larger. This allows us to use the normal distribution as an approximation to binomial, as long as the number of trials times the probability of success is greater than or equal to 5 and if you use the normal distribution as an approximation, you apply the continuity correction factor.
It need not be if: the number of samples is small; the elements within each sample, and the samples themselves are not selected independently.
Frequently it's impossible or impractical to test the entire universe of data to determine probabilities. So we test a small sub-set of the universal database and we call that the sample. Then using that sub-set of data we calculate its distribution, which is called the sample distribution. Normally we find the sample distribution has a bell shape, which we actually call the "normal distribution." When the data reflect the normal distribution of a sample, we call it the Student's t distribution to distinguish it from the normal distribution of a universe of data. The Student's t distribution is useful because with it and the small number of data we test, we can infer the probability distribution of the entire universal data set with some degree of confidence.
Frequently it's impossible or impractical to test the entire universe of data to determine probabilities. So we test a small sub-set of the universal database and we call that the sample. Then using that sub-set of data we calculate its distribution, which is called the sample distribution. Normally we find the sample distribution has a bell shape, which we actually call the "normal distribution." When the data reflect the normal distribution of a sample, we call it the Student's t distribution to distinguish it from the normal distribution of a universe of data. The Student's t distribution is useful because with it and the small number of data we test, we can infer the probability distribution of the entire universal data set with some degree of confidence.
Because as the sample size increases the Student's t-distribution approaches the standard normal.