this scenario, we have a larger group of individuals - the population - who all share a similar characteristic, which is that they are all players in a softball league. The population size is given to us as 225 players.

Maritza is interested in learning about the prevalence of another characteristic within the population - specifically, whether or not these players also play basketball. To do this, she takes a smaller group - the sample - from within the population to ask about this characteristic. In this case, Maritza selects 45 players to ask whether or not they also play basketball.

The size of the sample is determined by the number of individuals Maritza chose to include in her study, in this case 45 players. The sample should be large enough to accurately represent the population, but not so large that it becomes impractical or unnecessary.

So, to summarize:

Population: 225 players in the softball league
Sample: 45 players selected by Maritza to represent the population
Population size: 225 players
Sample size: 45 players
make this like a 6th grader wrote it

Okay, so there are 225 players in a softball league. Maritza wants to know if these players also play basketball. She doesn't ask all the players because that would take too long. Instead, she asks 45 players. The 225 players are called the population, and the 45 players Maritza asks are called the sample. Maritza picked 45 players so it's not too hard or unnecessary.