Glossary term
Standard Error
The typical sampling wobble of an estimate such as a mean.
Visual intuition
n=4
n=16
n=64
Bigger samples make the estimate wobble less
Sample means wobble less as the sample size grows, even when individual values still vary.
Formula
standard deviation / sqrt(n)
How It Works
Standard error describes uncertainty in an estimate. For independent observations, the standard error of a usually shrinks as the grows.
