The mean of a distribution with probability density function is the first raw
moment
, defined by
|
(1)
|
where is the expectation
value.
For a continuous distribution function, the population mean is given by
|
(2)
|
where is the expectation
value. Similarly, for a discrete distribution,
|
(3)
|
The population mean of a distribution is implemented in the Wolfram Language as Mean[dist].
The sample mean is an unbiased estimator for the population mean.