Content

• 6.1 Some General Concepts of Point Estimation
• 6.2 Methods of Point Estimation
• SUPPLEMENTARY EXERCISES (31-38)
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Given a parameter of interest, such as a population mean $\mu$ or population proportion $p$ , the objective of point estimation is to use a sample to compute a number that represents in some sense an educated guess for the true value of the parameter. The resulting number is called a point estimate. Section 6.1 introduces some general concepts of point estimation. In Section 6.2, we describe and illustrate two important methods for obtaining point estimates: the method of moments and the method of maximum likelihood. 6.1 Some General Concepts of Point Estimation