the.com/central limit theorem

means A statistical law stating that if you average enough independent random samples, their distribution will approximate a normal (bell-shaped) curve, regardless of the shape of the original data's distribution.

from The 'limit' refers to the mathematical limit approached as sample size grows toward infinity — the approximation gets better and better the more samples you take. 'Central' was applied by the mathematician George Pólya in the early 20th century, who used it to flag the theorem's central importance to probability theory, not because of any 'centering' of data. The underlying mathematics stretches back further, with roots in the work of 18th-century mathematicians like de Moivre and later Laplace, who found bell-curve patterns emerging from coin-flip and error-measurement problems long before the theorem had its modern name.