Sampling Distribution of the Sample Variance

a. Find the value of the population variance s2.

b. Table 3 describes the sampling distribution of the sample mean. Construct a similar table representing the sampling distribution of the sample variance s2. Then combine values of s2 that are the same, as in Table 4.

(Hint: See Example 1 for Tables 3 and 4 that describe the sampling distribution of the sample mean.)

c. Find the mean of the sampling distribution of the sample variance.

d. Based on the preceding results, is the sample variance an unbiased estimator of the population variance? Why or why not?