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Statistics (from German: Statistik, orig. "description of a state, a country") [ 1][ 2] is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. [ 3][ 4][ 5] In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or social problem, it is conventional to begin with a statistical population or ...
Environmental statistics is the application of statistical methods to environmental science. Weather, climate, air and water quality are included, as are studies of plant and animal populations. Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in ...
Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying distribution of probability. [ 1] Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of a population, for example by testing hypotheses and deriving estimates. It is assumed that the observed data set is sampled from a larger population.
For example, the sample mean is an unbiased estimator of the population mean. This means that the expected value of the sample mean equals the true population mean. [1] A descriptive statistic is used to summarize the sample data. A test statistic is used in statistical hypothesis testing. A single statistic can be used for multiple purposes ...
Statistics, when used in a misleading fashion, can trick the casual observer into believing something other than what the data shows. That is, a misuse of statistics occurs when a statistical argument asserts a falsehood. In some cases, the misuse may be accidental. In others, it is purposeful and for the gain of the perpetrator.
An example of Neyman–Pearson hypothesis testing (or null hypothesis statistical significance testing) can be made by a change to the radioactive suitcase example. If the "suitcase" is actually a shielded container for the transportation of radioactive material, then a test might be used to select among three hypotheses: no radioactive source ...
Mathematical statistics is the application of probability theory, a branch of mathematics, to statistics, as opposed to techniques for collecting statistical data. Specific mathematical techniques which are used for this include mathematical analysis, linear algebra, stochastic analysis, differential equations, and measure theory. [ 1][ 2]
The use of descriptive and summary statistics has an extensive history and, indeed, the simple tabulation of populations and of economic data was the first way the topic of statistics appeared. More recently, a collection of summarisation techniques has been formulated under the heading of exploratory data analysis : an example of such a ...