ABSTRACT
This chapter describes probability and sampling and estimation. It discusses the importance of probability in statistics, defines probability in a conceptual and computational sense, and the notion of intuition versus probability. The area of probability became important and began to be developed during the Middle Ages when royalty and other well-to-do gamblers consulted with mathematicians for advice on games of chance. The chapter also discusses the importance of probability, provides a definition of probability, and consider the notion of intuition versus probability. It considers why probability is important in statistics. According to the law of averages, the probability of observing a head on the next flip must be near certainty. The chapter aims to serve as a concise and general introduction to probability, sampling, and related concepts. Concepts to be discussed include probability, inferential statistics, simple random sampling, sampling distribution of the mean, variance and standard error of the mean, confidence intervals, and central limit theorem.
