Electronic Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics

Baltimore, Maryland, November 1-4, 2001

Paper C011

Using Minitab to Improve Students' Understanding of the Central Limit Theorem

Kate McGivney


Shippensburg University
Phone: (717) 477-1490


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ABSTRACT

Loosely stated, the Central Limit Theorem says that for sufficiently large n, the sample mean of n independent and identically distributed random variables, has an approximately normal distribution regardless of the underlying distribution. Students new to probability often have a hard time making sense of this powerful result. Lab activities that employ the statistical software package, Minitab, provide a way for students to see this theorem in action.

Keyword(s): statistics, Minitab