1.1 Intro Notes MAT 1260
1.1 Intro Notes MAT 1260
Section Objectives
1. Define statistics
2. Explain the process of statistics
3. Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative variables
4. Distinguish between discrete and continuous variables
5. Determine the level of measurement of a variable
Define Statistics
Statistics and Data
Example 1.
You are walking down the street and notice a person walking in front of you drops $100.
Nobody seems to notice except you.
Suppose you want to use this scenario to determine the morality of students at our campus by
determining the percent of students who would return the money.
In small groups, discuss how you could gather the necessary data to determine the answer to
this question.
Example 1 Continued.
Suppose 50 students were sampled and asked the question about the $100. Suppose 11
students said they would keep the money.
Inferential statistics uses methods that take results from a sample, extends them to the
population, and measures the reliability of the result.
4. Perform inference.
Measuring reliability (Chapters 5 through 8)
Inferential techniques (Chapters 9 through 15)
a) Temperature outside
b) Eye color
d) Zip code