Proportion
Definition
A proportion is a fraction or percentage that represents the relationship between a part and a whole in a population or sample.
Analogy
Imagine you have a bag of 100 candies, and 20 of them are red. The proportion of red candies would be 20/100 or 0.2, which can also be expressed as 20%.
Related terms
Sample Proportion: The proportion calculated from a sample that estimates the true population proportion.
Confidence Interval: A range of values around the sample proportion that is likely to contain the true population proportion.
Margin of Error: The maximum amount by which the sample proportion may differ from the true population proportion.
"Proportion" appears in:
Study guides (2)
Additional resources (2)
Practice Questions (13)
A company wants to compare the proportion of defective products produced by two different assembly lines. Which test should be used?
A marketing researcher wants to estimate the proportion of adults who own smartphones. He collects data from a random sample of 500 adults and finds that 350 of them own smartphones. Which of the following procedures should he use?
A researcher wants to estimate the proportion of college students who own a laptop. They survey a random sample of 1000 college students and find that 700 of them own laptops. Which of the following procedures is most appropriate?
A survey was conducted to compare the proportion of students who prefer math and those who prefer literature. The 95% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.03, 0.15). What does this interval suggest?
A company conducted a study to compare the proportion of customers who preferred their old product to the new one. The 90% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.06, 0.02). What can be inferred from this interval?
A teacher conducted a survey to compare the proportion of students who passed a test before and after a tutoring program. The 99% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.05, 0.15). What does this interval suggest?
A company conducted a study to compare the proportion of customers who preferred their old product to the new one. The 95% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.08, 0.04). What does this interval suggest?
A company conducted a study to compare the proportion of customers who preferred their new product to the old one. The 95% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.04, 0.06). What does this interval suggest?
A company conducted a study to compare the proportion of customers who preferred their new product to the old one. The 99% confidence interval for the difference in proportions is (-0.10, 0.08). What does this interval suggest?
In a survey, two independent simple random samples were taken to compare the proportion of students who participate in extracurricular activities between two schools. From Sample A (School X), 500 students were surveyed, and 320 of them participate in extracurricular activities. From Sample B (School Y), 600 students were surveyed, and 420 of them participate in extracurricular activities. What is the difference in sample proportions of students who participate in extracurricular activities between School X and School Y?
What is the point estimate for a one-sample z-interval for a proportion?
If we are testing that the actual proportion is not equal to the claimed proportion, what type of test are we doing?
An article claims that 60% of teens like pop music. If 230 of 250 randomly selected teens like pop, is there significant evidence that the actual proportion of teenagers who like pop music is more than 60%? What are the null and alternative hypotheses of this one-proportion z-test?
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