The Population Mean – Explanation & Examples

The Population MeanThe definition of the population mean is:

“The population mean is the mean or average found in a population.”

In this topic, we will discuss the population mean from the following aspects:

  • What is the population mean?
  • How to find the population mean?
  • The population mean formula.
  • The role of the population mean.
  • Practice questions.
  • Answer key.

What is the population mean?

The population mean is the mean value of a numerical characteristic of the population. The population is the whole group of items we want to study. These items can be individuals, things, animals, plants, etc.

For example, the whole individuals living in the U.S., the whole chairs produced from a certain factory, the whole tigers living in rain forests in Indonesia, and the whole orange trees in Egypt.

These different populations’ numerical characteristics can be weights for individuals, leg lengths for chairs, tail lengths for tigers, and the heights for orange trees.

However, collecting information from the population may not be possible in many cases due to the great resources it needs.

For example, if we want to study the heights of American males. We can survey every American male and get his height. This is population data.

Alternatively, we can select 200 American males and measure their heights. This is sample data.

If we calculate the mean of the population data, its symbol is the Greek letter μ and pronounced “mu.”

How to find the population mean?

We have two cases:

  1. We have population data and so calculate the population mean from it.
  2. We have sample data and use the sample mean to construct an interval that most likely contains the population mean.

– Examples of population data

– Example 1

The following is the murder rate (per 100,000 population) for the 50 states of the U.S. in 1976. What is the mean of the murder rate?

We have information about all states of the U.S. so this is population data.

Note

This dataset may be considered as a sample or as a population.

It is a sample if we want to study the murder rate of the U.S. states in the 1970s, or it is a population if data is from 1970-1980 because this is a 1-year sample from these 10 years.

It is a population for the murder rate of U.S. states in 1976.

state

murder rate

Alabama

15.1

Alaska

11.3

Arizona

7.8

Arkansas

10.1

California

10.3

Colorado

6.8

Connecticut

3.1

Delaware

6.2

Florida

10.7

Georgia

13.9

Hawaii

6.2

Idaho

5.3

Illinois

10.3

Indiana

7.1

Iowa

2.3

Kansas

4.5

Kentucky

10.6

Louisiana

13.2

Maine

2.7

Maryland

8.5

Massachusetts

3.3

Michigan

11.1

Minnesota

2.3

Mississippi

12.5

Missouri

9.3

Montana

5.0

Nebraska

2.9

Nevada

11.5

New Hampshire

3.3

New Jersey

5.2

New Mexico

9.7

New York

10.9

North Carolina

11.1

North Dakota

1.4

Ohio

7.4

Oklahoma

6.4

Oregon

4.2

Pennsylvania

6.1

Rhode Island

2.4

South Carolina

11.6

South Dakota

1.7

Tennessee

11.0

Texas

12.2

Utah

4.5

Vermont

5.5

Virginia

9.5

Washington

4.3

West Virginia

6.7

Wisconsin

3.0

Wyoming

6.9

1. Add up all of the numbers:

15.1+ 11.3+ 7.8+ 10.1+ 10.3+ 6.8+ 3.1+ 6.2+ 10.7+ 13.9+ 6.2+ 5.3+ 10.3+ 7.1+ 2.3+ 4.5+ 10.6+ 13.2+ 2.7+ 8.5+ 3.3+ 11.1+ 2.3+ 12.5+ 9.3+ 5.0+ 2.9+ 11.5+ 3.3+ 5.2+ 9.7+ 10.9+ 11.1+ 1.4+ 7.4+ 6.4+ 4.2+ 6.1+ 2.4+ 11.6+ 1.7+ 11.0+ 12.2+ 4.5+ 5.5+ 9.5+ 4.3+ 6.7+ 3.0+ 6.9 = 368.9.

2. Count the numbers of items in your population. In this population, there are 50 items or 50 states.

3. Divide the number you found in Step 1 by the number you found in Step 2.

The population mean = 368.9/50 = 7.378.

Note that the population mean has the same unit as the original data. So 7.378 is the mean murder rate per 100,000 population.

– Example 2

The following are the weights (in grams) for 71 chickens on a certain farm. What is the mean?

We have the weights of all chickens on the farm, so this is population data.

chicken number

weight

1

179

2

160

3

136

4

227

5

217

6

168

7

108

8

124

9

143

10

140

11

309

12

229

13

181

14

141

15

260

16

203

17

148

18

169

19

213

20

257

21

244

22

271

23

243

24

230

25

248

26

327

27

329

28

250

29

193

30

271

31

316

32

267

33

199

34

171

35

158

36

248

37

423

38

340

39

392

40

339

41

341

42

226

43

320

44

295

45

334

46

322

47

297

48

318

49

325

50

257

51

303

52

315

53

380

54

153

55

263

56

242

57

206

58

344

59

258

60

368

61

390

62

379

63

260

64

404

65

318

66

352

67

359

68

216

69

222

70

283

71

332

1. Add up all of the numbers:

179+ 160+ 136+ 227+ 217+ 168+ 108+ 124+ 143+ 140+ 309+ 229+ 181+ 141+ 260+ 203+ 148+ 169+ 213+ 257+ 244+ 271+ 243+ 230+ 248+ 327+ 329+ 250+ 193+ 271+ 316+ 267+ 199+ 171+ 158+ 248+ 423+ 340+ 392+ 339+ 341+ 226+ 320+ 295+ 334+ 322+ 297+ 318+ 325+ 257+ 303+ 315+ 380+ 153+ 263+ 242+ 206+ 344+ 258+ 368+ 390+ 379+ 260+ 404+ 318+ 352+ 359+ 216+ 222+ 283+ 332 = 18553.

2. Count the numbers of items in your population. In this population, there are 71 items or chickens.
3. Divide the number you found in Step 1 by the number you found in Step 2.

The population mean = 18553/71 = 261.3 grams.

– Example 3

The following is the trunk circumference (in mm) for 35 orange trees on a certain farm. What is the mean?

We have the trunk circumferences of all trees on the farm, so this is population data.

tree number

circumference

1

30

2

58

3

87

4

115

5

120

6

142

7

145

8

33

9

69

10

111

11

156

12

172

13

203

14

203

15

30

16

51

17

75

18

108

19

115

20

139

21

140

22

32

23

62

24

112

25

167

26

179

27

209

28

214

29

30

30

49

31

81

32

125

33

142

34

174

35

177

1. Add up all of the numbers:

30+ 58+ 87+ 115+ 120+ 142+ 145+ 33+ 69+ 111+ 156+ 172+ 203+ 203+ 30+ 51+ 75+ 108+ 115+ 139+ 140+ 32+ 62+ 112+ 167+ 179+ 209+ 214+ 30+ 49+ 81+ 125+ 142+ 174+ 177 = 4055.

2. Count the numbers of items in your population. In this population, there are 35 items or trees.

3. Divide the number you found in Step 1 by the number you found in Step 2.

The population mean = 4055/35 = 115.8571 mm.

– Examples of sample data

For samples with a size greater than 30, the interval that, most likely, contains the population mean is calculated by:

¯x±1.96Xs/√n

Where:

¯x is the calculated sample mean.

s is the standard deviation of the sample. It is a measure of the data spread.

n is the sample size.

This interval (called 95% confidence interval) gives us a range of possible values for the unknown population mean from which the sample was taken.

– Example 4

The following is the age (in years) of 50 randomly selected individuals from a certain population. If you know that this sample’s standard deviation is 18.65, construct a 95% confidence interval for the true population mean.

89 61 74 85 46 60 41 18 37 30 44 37 51 53 74 38 56 48 52 62 33 56 38 30 43 32 74 27 49 53 40 27 42 60 88 22 59 43 69 75 28 47 35 62 65 31 22 31 26 83.

1. Add up all of the numbers in your sample:

89+ 61+ 74+ 85+ 46+ 60+ 41+ 18+ 37+ 30+ 44+ 37+ 51+ 53+ 74+ 38+ 56+ 48+ 52+ 62+ 33+ 56+ 38+ 30+ 43+ 32+ 74+ 27+ 49+ 53+ 40+ 27+ 42+ 60+ 88+ 22+ 59+ 43+ 69+ 75+ 28+ 47+ 35+ 62+ 65+ 31+ 22+ 31+ 26+ 83 = 2446.

2. Count the numbers of items in your sample. In this sample, there are 50 items or persons.

3. Divide the number you found in Step 1 by the number you found in Step 2.

The sample mean = 2446/50 = 48.92 years.

4. The 95% confidence interval is:

¯x±1.96Xs/√n

¯x-1.96Xs/√n to ¯x+1.96Xs/√n

48.92-1.96X18.65/√50 to 48.92+1.96X18.65/√50 or 43.75 to 54.1.

It means that the true population mean age can be as small as 43.75 years and as large as 54.1 years.

Owing to the presence of the √n term in the formula for an interval calculation, the sample size affects the interval width. Larger sample sizes lead to smaller interval widths (or a more precise estimate of the population mean).

Suppose that you have a 100 sample size and you obtain the same sample mean and standard deviation; the 95% confidence interval will be:

48.92-1.96X18.65/√100 to 48.92+1.96X18.65/√100 or 45.26 to 52.6.

Suppose that you have a 500 sample size and you obtain the same sample mean and standard deviation; the 95% confidence interval will be:

48.92-1.96X18.65/√500 to 48.92+1.96X18.65/√500 or 47.29 to 50.55.

With increasing the sample size, you have more values about the true population mean.

We can see that in the following figure.

Plot of the sample size and the true population mean

Increasing the sample size has led to a narrower confidence interval.

– Example 5

Plotting the confidence intervals for different random samples

We have a population data of more than 20,000 individuals. We know that the true population mean for the age of these 20,000 individuals is 47.18 years.

Using a computer program, we will take 50 random samples from this population, each of size 35, and calculate the mean’s confidence interval for each sample.

sample

mean

lower

upper

1

44.71

39.98

49.45

2

48.43

41.72

55.14

3

46.66

40.25

53.06

4

48.43

42.17

54.68

5

48.77

42.26

55.28

6

47.14

42.04

52.25

7

46.74

40.67

52.81

8

51.49

44.65

58.32

9

49.20

42.29

56.11

10

50.14

43.71

56.58

11

44.23

37.17

51.29

12

49.37

42.91

55.83

13

40.97

35.80

46.15

14

50.06

44.05

56.07

15

46.09

40.22

51.95

16

40.60

35.55

45.65

17

47.80

41.69

53.91

18

49.89

43.17

56.60

19

47.40

42.58

52.22

20

51.17

44.40

57.94

21

45.20

39.59

50.81

22

48.29

42.30

54.27

23

48.26

42.87

53.65

24

42.91

37.93

47.89

25

42.49

36.14

48.83

26

47.86

43.42

52.30

27

43.66

38.07

49.24

28

43.14

37.61

48.68

29

45.54

39.69

51.40

30

48.51

42.45

54.58

31

45.57

38.80

52.34

32

46.11

40.18

52.05

33

45.03

39.37

50.69

34

47.71

41.44

53.99

35

49.14

42.61

55.67

36

46.37

40.30

52.44

37

47.91

41.95

53.87

38

46.91

41.16

52.67

39

49.77

44.45

55.09

40

40.86

35.95

45.77

41

49.00

42.68

55.32

42

45.43

40.00

50.85

43

50.83

44.84

56.81

44

45.77

39.29

52.25

45

44.89

39.27

50.50

46

43.43

37.98

48.88

47

43.43

37.78

49.08

48

51.26

45.15

57.36

49

48.94

43.31

54.57

50

46.43

39.95

52.91

Add another column to the table to indicate if the interval covers the true population mean.

The interval will not cover the population mean if the lower limit is higher than the population mean or the upper limit is lower than the population mean.

sample

mean

lower

upper

covers population mean

1

44.71

39.98

49.45

yes

2

48.43

41.72

55.14

yes

3

46.66

40.25

53.06

yes

4

48.43

42.17

54.68

yes

5

48.77

42.26

55.28

yes

6

47.14

42.04

52.25

yes

7

46.74

40.67

52.81

yes

8

51.49

44.65

58.32

yes

9

49.20

42.29

56.11

yes

10

50.14

43.71

56.58

yes

11

44.23

37.17

51.29

yes

12

49.37

42.91

55.83

yes

13

40.97

35.80

46.15

no

14

50.06

44.05

56.07

yes

15

46.09

40.22

51.95

yes

16

40.60

35.55

45.65

no

17

47.80

41.69

53.91

yes

18

49.89

43.17

56.60

yes

19

47.40

42.58

52.22

yes

20

51.17

44.40

57.94

yes

21

45.20

39.59

50.81

yes

22

48.29

42.30

54.27

yes

23

48.26

42.87

53.65

yes

24

42.91

37.93

47.89

yes

25

42.49

36.14

48.83

yes

26

47.86

43.42

52.30

yes

27

43.66

38.07

49.24

yes

28

43.14

37.61

48.68

yes

29

45.54

39.69

51.40

yes

30

48.51

42.45

54.58

yes

31

45.57

38.80

52.34

yes

32

46.11

40.18

52.05

yes

33

45.03

39.37

50.69

yes

34

47.71

41.44

53.99

yes

35

49.14

42.61

55.67

yes

36

46.37

40.30

52.44

yes

37

47.91

41.95

53.87

yes

38

46.91

41.16

52.67

yes

39

49.77

44.45

55.09

yes

40

40.86

35.95

45.77

no

41

49.00

42.68

55.32

yes

42

45.43

40.00

50.85

yes

43

50.83

44.84

56.81

yes

44

45.77

39.29

52.25

yes

45

44.89

39.27

50.50

yes

46

43.43

37.98

48.88

yes

47

43.43

37.78

49.08

yes

48

51.26

45.15

57.36

yes

49

48.94

43.31

54.57

yes

50

46.43

39.95

52.91

yes

Then, we will plot these confidence intervals to see how they cover the true population mean.

Ploting these confidence intervals to see how they cover the true population mean

The horizontal black line represents the true population mean.

The blue or red dots represent the mean calculated from each random sample.

The error bars represent the confidence interval calculated from each sample.

We see only 3 samples create a confidence interval that does not cover the population mean and accounting for 3/50 = 0.06 or 6%. Hence, it is very unlikely that the created confidence interval does not cover the population mean.

In research, we take only 1 sample and construct a 95% confidence interval from it.
We do not know if our sample yields an interval containing the population value or one of the bad samples that yield an interval not containing the population value.

However, the constructed 95% confidence interval works 95% of the time. We can assume that the constructed interval has the population value.

Population mean formula

The population mean formula is:

μ=1/N∑X

Where μ is the population mean.

N is the population size.

∑X means the sum of every element in our population.

We used this formula in the above examples, where we summed the population data and divided it by the population size (or multiplied by 1/N).

The role of the population mean

The population mean gives us a measure of the center or central tendency of the population data.

This is useful when comparing different populations to each other.

– Example 1

The following table is the mean age for certain male and female populations.

sex

mean age

Male

54.78

Female

54.69

We see that the mean age is nearly similar for males and females.

It means that the ages for males and females are similar in their distributions. We can see that from plotting the ages for both populations as histograms.

Plotting the ages for both populations as histogramsThe black vertical line represents the mean for each group.

We can also plot the data as a dot plot to see individual values.

Dot plot of individual values

We see the same range for male and female ages.

– Example 2

The following table is the mean height for certain male and female populations.

sex

mean height

Male

169.27

Female

156.99

We see that the mean height for males is higher than the mean height for females.

Without looking at the data, this male population’s heights are longer than the heights of this female population on average.

We can see that from plotting the heights for the 2 populations as histograms.

Plotting the heights for the 2 populations as histograms

The black vertical line represents the mean for each group.

We can also plot the data as a dot plot to see individual values.

Dot plot of the heights for the 2 populations

We see that males’ height tends to be longer than females’ height.

But what about the sample means?

The sample means also give information about the population data center from which the sample was collected.

However, we have to calculate the 95% confidence interval for each sample mean due to sampling error. Suppose the confidence intervals do not overlap for the two samples. In that case, we can deduce that the two populations (from which the two samples were taken) are significantly different from each other.

– Example 3

The following table is the birth weight of neonates (in grams) for a random sample of 35 smoking and 35 never-smoking mothers.

smoking

Never-smoking

3374

3090

1928

3651

2977

3572

2410

2733

3884

2450

1928

2495

3940

1928

2466

3232

3203

1474

2187

3203

3317

1729

2381

3860

2821

3912

3321

3983

3629

3770

2782

2835

3260

4153

2769

1970

2466

1588

2353

3062

3042

2353

3637

2977

2466

4054

3005

3274

2414

3459

3651

1588

2948

2495

2977

2877

3430

2722

2126

2240

2367

3234

2125

3175

3856

4111

2906

3544

3132

2301

The mean birth weight for the smoking mothers = 2899 grams, while the mean for never-smoking mothers = 2946 grams.

The standard deviation for smoking mothers’ weight = 576.72 grams, while the standard deviation for never-smoking mothers = 783.22 grams.

While the sample mean for never-smoking mothers is larger than that for smoking mothers, one may argue that this difference is due to sampling error and not due to the true difference between the population of smoking and never-smoking mothers.

To overcome that, we construct a 95% confidence interval for each mean:

The 95% confidence interval for smoking mothers is:

2899-1.96X576.72/√35 to 2899+1.96X576.72/√35 or 2707.9 to 3090.1.

The 95% confidence interval for never smoking mothers is:

2946-1.96X783.22/√35 to 2946+1.96X783.22/√35 or 2686.5 to 3205.5.

The two confidence intervals overlap, so we conclude that there is no difference in the mean neonate birth weight for smoking and never smoking mothers.

Practice questions

1. The following is the income per capita for the 50 states of the U.S. in 1974. What is the mean income per capita?

state

Income

Alabama

3624

Alaska

6315

Arizona

4530

Arkansas

3378

California

5114

Colorado

4884

Connecticut

5348

Delaware

4809

Florida

4815

Georgia

4091

Hawaii

4963

Idaho

4119

Illinois

5107

Indiana

4458

Iowa

4628

Kansas

4669

Kentucky

3712

Louisiana

3545

Maine

3694

Maryland

5299

Massachusetts

4755

Michigan

4751

Minnesota

4675

Mississippi

3098

Missouri

4254

Montana

4347

Nebraska

4508

Nevada

5149

New Hampshire

4281

New Jersey

5237

New Mexico

3601

New York

4903

North Carolina

3875

North Dakota

5087

Ohio

4561

Oklahoma

3983

Oregon

4660

Pennsylvania

4449

Rhode Island

4558

South Carolina

3635

South Dakota

4167

Tennessee

3821

Texas

4188

Utah

4022

Vermont

3907

Virginia

4701

Washington

4864

West Virginia

3617

Wisconsin

4468

Wyoming

4566

2. The following is the miles/U.S. gallon (mpg) for 32 car models in a certain car showroom (in the 1970s). What is the mean of this population?

model

mpg

Mazda RX4

21.0

Mazda RX4 Wag

21.0

Datsun 710

22.8

Hornet 4 Drive

21.4

Hornet Sportabout

18.7

Valiant

18.1

Duster 360

14.3

Merc 240D

24.4

Merc 230

22.8

Merc 280

19.2

Merc 280C

17.8

Merc 450SE

16.4

Merc 450SL

17.3

Merc 450SLC

15.2

Cadillac Fleetwood

10.4

Lincoln Continental

10.4

Chrysler Imperial

14.7

Fiat 128

32.4

Honda Civic

30.4

Toyota Corolla

33.9

Toyota Corona

21.5

Dodge Challenger

15.5

AMC Javelin

15.2

Camaro Z28

13.3

Pontiac Firebird

19.2

Fiat X1-9

27.3

Porsche 914-2

26.0

Lotus Europa

30.4

Ford Pantera L

15.8

Ferrari Dino

19.7

Maserati Bora

15.0

Volvo 142E

21.4

3. The following two histograms are for the weights of certain male and female populations. Can you deduce which population has a higher mean weight?

Two histograms for the weights of certain male and female populations

3. The following table is for the mean wind speed for different classes of storm populations.

class

mean

hurricane

85.97

tropical depression

27.27

tropical storm

45.81

And the following dot plot is for the data values (wind speed) of these classes.

Dot plot for the data values wind speed of these classes

We have many data values, but as they are equal in value, the points are superimposed.

Which points correspond to which mean?

5. You have two samples of diamonds. One sample is 38 ideal-cut diamonds, and the mean weight is 0.703 grams, and the standard deviation is 0.4. The second sample is 45 fair-cut diamonds, and the mean weight is 1.25 grams, and the standard deviation is 0.5.

Assuming that the two samples are randomly selected from a certain batch of diamonds in a certain factory. Is there a difference in the mean weight between the ideal and fair-cut diamonds in this batch?

Answer key

1. This is population data so we can calculate the population mean directly:

  • Sum of all numbers = 221790.
  • Count the numbers of items in.your population. In this population, there are 50 items or states.
  • Divide the first number by the second number.

The population mean = 221790/50 = 4435.8.

2. This is population data so we can calculate the population mean directly:

  • Sum of all numbers = 642.9.
  • In this population, there are 32 items or models.
  • Divide the first number by the second number.

The population mean = 642.9/32 = 20.09 mpg.

3. We see that males’ weight tends to be heavier than females’ weight (more shifted to the right), so males’ mean weight will be larger than the mean weight for females.

4. Red points correspond to hurricane class, blue points to a tropical storm, and green points to a tropical depression.

It is because each group of dots’ center corresponds to the calculated mean value in the table.

5. We construct a 95% confidence interval for each mean:

The 95% confidence interval for the ideal-cut diamonds is:

0.703-1.96X0.4/√38 to 0.703+1.96X0.4/√38 or 0.58 to 0.83.

The 95% confidence interval for fair-cut diamonds is:

1.25-1.96X0.5/√45 to 1.25+1.96X0.5/√45 or 1.10 to 1.396.

The two confidence intervals do not overlap, so we conclude that fair-cut diamonds have a significantly heavier weight than ideal-cut diamonds in this batch.

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