Course Title: Introduction to Statistics

Chapter: Descriptive Statistics

Historical Development of Statistics

The word “statistics” seems to have obtained from the Latin word “Status” or the Italian word
“Statista” or the German word “Statistik” each of which means “Political State”. In ancient time the
government used to collect information about total population, land, wealth, total number of
employees ,soldiers etc. to have the idea of the manpower of the country for formation of
administrative set up, fiscal, new taxes, levies and military policies of the government.

Definitions of Statistics
Different authors defined statistics in a number of ways .Among those some of the important
definitions are given below:
1. Croxton and Cowden
“Statistics may be defined as the collection, presentation and interpretation of numerical data”.
2. Bowley
“Statistics are numerical statement of facts in any department of enquiry placed in relation to each
other”.
3. Connor
“Statistics are measurements, enumerations or estimates of natural or social phenomena,
systematically arranged so to exhibit their inner relation”.
4. Yule and Kendal
“By Statistics we mean quantitative data affected to a marked extent by a multiplicity of causes.”
5. R.A.Fisher
“The science of statistics is essentially a branch of applied mathematics and may be regarded as
mathematics applied to observational data.”
In other words:
Statistics is a branch of science which deals with collecting, organizing, representing, analyzing and
interpreting data.

Importance and Scope of Statistics

In modern times, Statistics is viewed not as a mere device for collecting numerical data but as a means
of developing sound techniques for their handling and analysis and drawing valid inferences from
them.

1. Statistics and Planning

Statistics is indispensable to planning .In the modern age which is termed as „the age of planning‟,
almost all over the world, governments are resorting to planning for the economic development.
2. Statistics and Economics
Statistical data and technique of statistical analysis have proved immensely useful in solving a variety
of economic problems, such as wages, prices, analysis of time series and demand analysis.
3. Statistics and Business
Statistics as an indispensable tool of production control also. Business executives are relying more or
more on statistical techniques for studying the needs and the desires of the consumers and for many
other purposes. The success of a businessman more or less depends upon the accuracy and precision of
his statistical forecasting.
4. Statistics and Industry
In Industry, Statistics is very widely used in „Quality Control‟. In production engineering, to find
whether the product is conforming to specifications or not, statistical tools, viz, inspection plan,
control charts, etc.are of extreme importance.
5. Statistics and Mathematics
Statistics and mathematics are very intimately related. Recent advancements in statistical techniques
are the outcomes of wide applications of advanced mathematics.
6. Statistics and Medical Science
In medical science, the statistical tools for the collection, presentation and analysis of observed facts
relating to the causes and incidence of diseases and the results obtained from the use of various drugs
and medicines are of great importance.
7. Statistics and Psychology and Education
In education and psychology, too, Statistics has found wide applications e.g., to determine the
reliability and validity of a test,‟ Factor Analysis‟, etc.
8. Statistics and War
In war, the theory of „Decision Functions‟ can be great assistance to military and technical personnel
to plan „maximum destruction with minimum effort.‟
9. Statistics in Fisheries and Agriculture
10. Statistics and animal science: In animal science statistics has a huge application. Effects of
different food habit, effects of different medicine and their side effects, different mycobacterial effects
etc. can be studied by using statistical tools.

Population and Sample

Statistics is a branch of scientific methodology. It deals with the collection, classification, description
and interpretation of data through scientific procedures. Its essential purpose is to describe about the
numerical properties of populations and draw inferences about the population from the samples.
Population: A population is the collection of all items of interest in a particular study. For example,
all the farmers, students, domestic animals, birds, total forest area, total agricultural land etc. may
constitute a population

Population may be finite or infinite:

Finite population: A population consisting of a finite number of individuals or items is called a finite
population. Students of an institution, farmers in a country, number of livestocks etc. are examples of
finite populations; these have specific numbers that can be enumerated.
Infinite population: A population consisting of an infinite number of individuals, which cannot be
enumerated, is called an infinite population. For example, number of fishes in a river, number of stars
in the sky etc.
Sample: A small but representative part with finite number of individuals or items of a population is
called a sample. For example, a group of students, representing the first year honors students (a
population), is called a sample. A small quantity of blood, not the whole, is collected for testing; the
blood is a sample where the total quantity of blood of a person is the population
 Sample is a sub-set or portion of the population selected to represent the population.
Sample size: The number of elements selected for a sample is known as the sample size. A sample of
size less than 30 is termed as a small sample and that having 30 or more elements is termed as a large
sample.

Variables and Attributes

Measurable characteristics of a population that may vary from element to element either in magnitude
or in quality are called variables.
Suppose, we have a set of numbers, representing marks obtained by five students in a group. The
possible numbers may be represented as X: 4, 5, 7, 8 and 6. Here X is a variable since it takes different
values.
Variables are of two types- quantitative or qualitative. Variable characteristics, whose values are
expressed numerically, are known as quantitative variables.
Examples of quantitative variables are: height, weight, age, yield of crops, length or breadth of fishes,
weight of tomato, number of grains per panicles, income and family size, etc.
Quantitative variables may be further classified as discrete or continuous.
When the variable can take only integral values within a given range, is called discrete variable. For
example, the number of children in a family, number of students per class, number of grains per
panicles etc. These are called discrete variables.

A variable is said to be continuous if it assumes any value, integral or fractional, within specified
limits, a given range.
For example, height or weight of students, weight of tomato, length of fish, height of trees, price of a
commodity are continuous variables.
Some variables, which express the quality of population elements cannot be numerical measured with
a scale but can be classified or categorized, these are called qualitative variables. A qualitative
variable shows variation in objects not in terms of magnitude but in quality or kind. These qualities are
called attributes.

Examples of qualitative variables are type of farmers(big, medium, small), type of fishes(sea fish, river
fish), Hair color (brown, black, white etc.), religion (Muslim, Hindu, Christian etc), Sex, nationality,
type of crime, marital status, literacy, etc cannot be numerically measured but can be grouped into
classes or categories.
People vary according to sex as male and female, according to nationality as American, French, Italian
or Indian. Students in a college may be classified as belonging to Science, Arts, or commerce faculty.
 Variability is a common characteristic in biological sciences. A quantitative or qualitative
characteristic that varies from observation to observation in the same group is called a variable.
In case of quantitative variables, observations are made using interval scales whereas in case of
qualitative variables nominal scales are used. Conventionally, the quantitative variables are
termed as variables and qualitative variables are termed as attributes. Thus, yield of a crop,
available nitrogen in soil, daily temperature, number of leaves per plant and number of eggs
laid by insects are all variables. The crop varieties, soil types, shape of seeds, seasons and sex
of insects are attributes.
The variable itself can be classified as continuous variable and discrete variable. The variables
for which fractional measurements are possible, at least conceptually, are called continuous
variables. For example, in the range of 7 kg to 10 yield of a crop, yield might be 7.15 or
7.024kg. Hence, yield is a continuous variable. The variables for which such factional
measurements are not possible are called discrete or discontinuous variables. For example, the
number of grains per panicle of paddy can be counted in full numbers like 79, 80, 81 etc. Thus,
number of grains per panicle is a discrete variable. The variables, discrete or continuous are
denoted by capital letters like X and Y.

Some Statistical terms:

Population: A population consists of all the items or individuals about which we
want to draw a conclusion.
Sample: A sub-set of a population
Variable: A characteristic which may take on different values
Data: Data are the different values associated with a variable.
 A parameter is an unknown characteristic of a population
A statistic is a characteristic of a sample

Some Statistical Symbols:

We know that the unknown characteristics of a population are called parameters, whereas the
characteristics of a sample are called statistic. Some useful symbols for parameters and statistics are-
Characteristic Parameter Statistic
Mean µ x
Standard deviation  s
Variance 2 s2
Correlation coefficient  r
Regression coefficient  b

Scales of Measurement of Data

Measurement is a process of assigning numbers to some characteristics or variables or events
according to scientific rules.
Measurements can be qualitative or quantitative and are measured using four different scales
Variables are measured under four levels or scales of measurements which are given below:

1. Nominal Data are:

• names or categories, e.g., {Male, Female} and {single, Married, Divorced, Widowed}. • also referred
to as qualitative or categorical data.
Arithmetic operations do not make sense for nominal
data (e.g., does Widowed / 2 = Married ?!).
Nominal or categorical scale
uses numbers, names or symbols to classify objects
e.g. classification of soils or rocks
2. Ordinal Data are also categorical in nature, but their values have an order.
Example:
Course Ratings: Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent. Student Grades: F, D, C, B, A.
Taste Preferences: First Choice, Second Choice, Last Choice.
Thus, while it is still not meaningful to do arithmetic on ordinal data (e.g., does 2 * fair = very
good?!), we can say things like:
Excellent > Poor, or Fair < Very Good
That is, order is maintained no matter what numeric values are assigned to each category.
3. Interval Data are:
• real numbers, e.g., heights, weights, prices, etc.
• also referred to as quantitative or numerical data.
Arithmetic operations can be performed on interval data,
thus it is meaningful to talk about:

4. Ratio scale
data demonstrate all the properties of interval data and the ratio of two values is meaningful.
Ex.1: Weight
Ex.2: Price
 an interval scale with a true zero
ratio of any two scale points are independent of the units of measurement
Example: Length (metric/imperial)
inches/centimetres = 2.54
miles/kilometres = 1.609344

DATA
Data are the different values associated with a variable.
The facts and figures collected, analyzed, and summarized for presentation and interpretation.
Types of data
The data are of two types i) Primary Data and ii) Secondary Data
i) Primary Data: It is the data collected by the primary source of information i.e. by the investigator
himself.
ii) Secondary Data: It is the data collected from secondary sources of information, like newspapers,
trade journals and statistical bulletins, etc.