Pooling two independent estimates

You have an estimate of a quantity with standard error 0.60.6. A colleague independently produces a second estimate of the same quantity, but with standard error 0.80.8. If you report the simple (equally weighted) average of the two, what is the standard error of that combined estimate? (to 2 decimals)

Show hints (2)+
  1. Work in variance, not SE: square to 0.36 and 0.64.
  2. A simple average has variance (1/4)(0.36 + 0.64) = 0.25; take the root.

Answer

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0.5 (± 0.01)

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Asked at: Multi-Strategy Quant, Data-Driven Research

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