Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
sequential estimation
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Quick Facts
Related Topics:
estimation
See all related content
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

sequential estimation

statistics
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

sequential estimation, in statistics, a method of estimating a parameter by analyzing a sample just large enough to ensure a previously chosen degree of precision. The fundamental technique is to take a sequence of samples, the outcome of each sampling determining the need for another sampling. The procedure is terminated when the desired degree of precision is achieved. On average, fewer total observations will be needed using this procedure than with any procedure using a fixed number of observations.