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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 ...
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 ...
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]
A statistical hypothesis test typically involves a calculation of a test statistic. Then a decision is made, either by comparing the test statistic to a critical value or equivalently by evaluating a p -value computed from the test statistic. Roughly 100 specialized statistical tests have been defined. [ 1 ][ 2 ]
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.
The theory of statistics provides a basis for the whole range of techniques, in both study design and data analysis, that are used within applications of statistics. [1] [2] The theory covers approaches to statistical-decision problems and to statistical inference, and the actions and deductions that satisfy the basic principles stated for these different approaches.
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 ...