Description

When discussing the distribution of sample proportions, it is often difficult for the instructor to produce enough examples because each sample proportion ("p-hat") requires a sample of size N, but then we need many of these p-hats to visualize the distribution via the histogram. This applet overcomes this difficulty by showing the distribution of 200 values of p-hat. With the applet interface, we can see how the histogram (and hence the distribution) changes when the sample size N is increased: The larger the value of N, the less variability (roughly illustrated by a decrease in the difference between largest and smallest value of p-hat) in the collection of p-hats.

Click the screen shot below or this link to open the applet in a new window:

Note that clicking on a box of the histogram highlights all p-hat values that are counted in that bin. Also, clicking the button for MORE SAMPLES adds 200 more samples (i.e., values of p-hat) to the mix, changing the histogram appropriately.

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