Chapter 1: Problem 66
a. For what value of \(c\) is the quantity \(\sum\left(x_{i}-c\right)^{2}\) minimized? [Hint: Take the derivative with respect to \(c\), set equal to 0 , and solve.] b. Using the result of part (a), which of the two quantities \(\sum\left(x_{i}-\bar{x}\right)^{2}\) and \(\sum\left(x_{i}-\mu\right)^{2}\) will be smaller than the other (assuming that \(\bar{x} \neq \mu) ?\)
Short Answer
Step by step solution
Understand the Objective
Write the Function to Minimize
Differentiate with Respect to c
Set the Derivative to Zero and Solve
Statement of Result for Part (a)
Analyze Part (b)
Statement of Result for Part (b)
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Key Concepts
These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.
Sum of Squared Deviations
- The squared deviations are calculated by taking each data point \(x_i\), subtracting a chosen value \(c\), and squaring the result.
- The formula for the sum of these squared deviations is \(\sum(x_i - c)^2\).
- This measure is important because squaring the deviations penalizes larger deviations, giving more weight to outliers.
Derivative in Optimization
- A derivative represents the rate of change of a function with respect to one of its variables.
- By taking the derivative of the function \(f(c) = \sum(x_i - c)^2\) with respect to \(c\), we measure how changes in \(c\) affect the value of the function.
- The derivative \(f'(c) = \sum -2(x_i - c) = -2 \sum (x_i - c)\) tells us whether the function is increasing or decreasing as \(c\) changes.
- Solving \(-2\sum(x_i - c) = 0\) simplifies to \(\sum(x_i - c) = 0\).
- This step confirms that \(c = \bar{x}\), the mean, is the point where the deviations are minimized.
Data Analysis
- One key task in data analysis is summarizing data, often using measures of central tendency such as the mean \(\bar{x}\) and median.
- Another task is determining how data points deviate from these summary stats, which can be expressed as the variance or standard deviation.
- This is because the mean minimizes overall discrepancies between the actual data points and the central value.
- Additionally, comparing different sums of squared deviations can reveal insights; for instance, \(\sum(x_i - \bar{x})^2\) being smaller than \(\sum(x_i - \mu)^2\) suggests that the data is centered around the mean rather than any other hypothetical central value.