acceptance sampling

Acceptance sampling is a statistical decision procedure for lot disposition based on inspecting a random sample of n items from a batch of size N and comparing the count of nonconforming units to a pre-defined acceptance number c. Its parameters are: the sample size n, the acceptance/rejection criteria (c for attribute plans, or control limits for variable plans), the governing sampling standard (ANSI/ASQ Z1.4, ISO 2859-1, or equivalent), and the operating-characteristic properties defining producer's risk α at AQL and consumer's risk β at LTPD. It persists through published sampling standards issued by standards organizations (ISO, ASQ, IEC), embedded in quality-management software suites (Minitab, JMP), and taught in manufacturing-engineering and reliability curricula. [formal: acceptatio per inspectionem loti | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]