Final answer:
The sample mean is the average value of a random sample taken from a larger population.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sample mean is the average value of a random sample taken from a larger population. In simple random sampling, each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
To calculate the sample mean, you add up all the values in the sample and divide by the number of values. For example, if you have a sample with the values 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, the sum is 30 and there are 12 values, so the sample mean would be 30/12 = 2.5.
The sample mean is an important statistic because it serves as an estimate of the population mean, which is often unknown.