central limit theorem

noun

, Statistics.

1. any of several theorems stating that the sum of a number of random variables obeying certain conditions will assume a normal distribution as the number of variables becomes large.

central limit theorem

noun

1. statistics the fundamental result that the sum (or mean) of independent identically distributed random variables with finite variance approaches a normally distributed random variable as their number increases, whence in particular if enough samples are repeatedly drawn from any population, the sum of the sample values can be thought of, approximately, as an outcome from a normally distributed random variable

Word History and Origins

Origin of central limit theorem¹

First recorded in 1950–55