document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=1196048>Question 1196048</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> is it true that a statistic can never be equal to zero </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #828744 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><B>math_tutor2020(3817)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-13.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=math_tutor2020><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/nopicture.jpg><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=828744\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> <font color=black size=3><BR>\n" );
document.write( "<font color=red>The answer is false</font>. A statistic CAN in fact be zero. The link cited by the other tutor doesn't provide adequate evidence as to why a statistic cannot equal zero. Edit: My apologies @ikleyn, I misread what you meant. \r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Consider the population of values: {-2, -1, 1, 2, 3, 4}\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Now consider a sample of these values {-1, 1} which is a subset of the population.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Compute the average to get (-1+1)/2 = 0/2 = 0<BR>\n" );
document.write( "This example shows that a statistic can be equal to zero.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "Recall that a parameter is something like the population mean, while the associated statistic is the sample mean. <BR>\n" );
document.write( "The goal of a statistic is to estimate the parameter. <BR>\n" );
document.write( "As you can probably guess, the class of statistics refers to this very idea.\r<BR>\n" );
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document.write( "For further practice, check out this sample quiz<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<a  rel=nofollow HREF= \"https://vault.hanover.edu/~dodge/Statistics/MC_Quizzes/index3.html\">https://vault.hanover.edu/~dodge/Statistics/MC_Quizzes/index3.html</a><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Question 1 is very similar to this current question. <BR>\n" );
document.write( "Scroll to the bottom to click for the answers, and it will show that \"choice E) none of the above\" is the answer for question 1.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "\"choice C) can never be zero\" is ruled out (in that it can be zero)<BR>\n" );
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