- estimation
-
/es'teuh may"sheuhn/, n.1. judgment or opinion: In my estimation the boy is guilty.2. esteem; respect.3. approximate calculation; estimate: to make an estimation of one's expenditures.[1325-75; ME estimacioun < MF < L aestimation- (s. of aestimatio). See ESTIMATE, -ION]
* * *
Unlike approximation, it has precise connotations. In statistics, for example, it connotes the careful selection and testing of a function called an estimator. In calculus, it usually refers to an initial guess for a solution to an equation, which is gradually refined by a process that generates closer estimates. The difference between the estimate and the exact value is the error.* * *
in statistics, any of numerous procedures used to calculate the value of some property of a population from observations of a sample drawn from the population. A point estimate, for example, is the single number most likely to express the value of the property. An interval estimate defines a range within which the value of the property can be expected (with a specified degree of confidence) to fall. The 18th-century English theologian and mathematician Thomas Bayes (Bayes, Thomas) was instrumental in the development of Bayesian estimation to facilitate revision of estimates on the basis of further information. (See Bayes's theorem.) In sequential estimation the experimenter evaluates the precision of the estimate during the sampling process, which is terminated as soon as the desired degree of precision has been achieved.* * *
Universalium. 2010.