Sampling is selecting a representative subset of a population to make inferences about the whole population. It involves randomly selecting a sample and inspecting it. If the number of defects found exceeds a threshold, the entire lot is rejected. If it is below the threshold, the lot is accepted. Multiple samples may be taken to improve accuracy, with the lot rejected only if the total defects across samples exceeds the threshold. Sampling allows determining characteristics of the whole population while inspecting only a fraction.