STATISTICS

Statistics is the study of the collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation, and organization of
data. In other words, it is a mathematical discipline to collect, summarize data. Also, we can say that
statistics is a branch of applied mathematics. However, there are two important and basic ideas
involved in statistics; they are uncertainty and variation. The uncertainty and variation in different
fields can be determined only through statistical analysis. These uncertainties are basically
determined by the probability that plays an important role in statistics.

What is Statistics?
Statistics is simply defined as the study and manipulation of data. As we have already discussed in
the introduction that statistics deals with the analysis and computation of numerical data. Let us see
more definitions of statistics given by different authors here.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, statistics is defined as “classified facts representing the
conditions of a people in a state – especially the facts that can be stated in numbers or any other
tabular or classified arrangement”.
According to statistician Sir Arthur Lyon Bowley, statistics is defined as “Numerical statements of
facts in any department of inquiry placed in relation to each other”.
Statistics Examples
Some of the real-life examples of statistics are:

 To find the mean of the marks obtained by each student in the class whose strength is 50.
The average value here is the statistics of the marks obtained.
 Suppose you need to find how many members are employed in a city. Since the city is
populated with 15 lakh people, hence we will take a survey here for 1000 people (sample).
Based on that, we will create the data, which is the statistic.

Basics of Statistics
The basics of statistics include the measure of central tendency and the measure of dispersion. The
central tendencies are mean, median and mode and dispersions comprise variance and standard
deviation.
Mean is the average of the observations. Median is the central value when observations are
arranged in order. The mode determines the most frequent observations in a data set.
Variation is the measure of spread out of the collection of data. Standard deviation is the measure of
the dispersion of data from the mean. The square of standard deviation is equal to the variance.

Statistics Formulae:
The formulas that are commonly used in statistical analysis are given in the table below.

Sample Mean ( x¯) ∑xn

Population Mean (μ) ∑xN

Sample Standard Deviation (s) ∑(x−x¯)2n−1

 Population Standard Deviation (σ) σ=(x−μ)2N

Sample Variance (s2) s2=∑(xi−x¯)2n−1

Population Variance (σ2) σ2=∑(xi–μ)2N

Range (R) Largest data value – smallest data value

Summary Statistics
In Statistics, summary statistics are a part of descriptive statistics (Which is one of the types of
statistics), which gives the list of information about sample data. We know that statistics deals with
the presentation of data visually and quantitatively. Thus, summary statistics deals with summarizing
the statistical information. Summary statistics generally deal with condensing the data in a simpler
form, so that the observer can understand the information at a glance. Generally, statisticians try to
describe the observations by finding:

 The measure of central tendency or mean of the locations, such as arithmetic mean.
 The measure of distribution shapes like skewness or kurtosis.
 The measure of dispersion such as the standard mean absolute deviation.
 The measure of statistical dependence such as correlation coefficient.
Summary Statistics Table
The summary statistics table is the visual representation of summarized statistical information about
the data in tabular form.
For example, the blood group of 20 students in the class are O, A, B, AB, B, B, AB, O, A, B, B, AB, AB,
O, O, B, A, AB, B, A.

Blood Group No. of Students

O 4

A 4

B 7

AB 5

Total 20
Thus, the summary statistics table shows that 4 students in the class have O blood group, 4 students
have A blood group, 7 students in the class have B blood group and 5 students in the class have AB
blood group. The summary statistics table is generally used to represent the big data related to
population, unemployment, and the economy to be summarized systematically to interpret the
accurate result.

Scope of Statistics
Statistics is used in many sectors such as psychology, geology, sociology, weather forecasting,
probability and much more. The goal of statistics is to gain understanding from the data, it focuses
on applications, and hence, it is distinctively considered as a mathematical science.
Methods in Statistics
The methods involve collecting, summarizing, analyzing, and interpreting variable numerical data.
Here some of the methods are provided below.

 Data collection
 Data summarization
 Statistical analysis

What is Data in Statistics?

Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words, measurements, observations etc.

Types of Data

1. Qualitative data- it is descriptive data.

 Example- She can run fast, He is thin.

2. Quantitative data- it is numerical information.
 Example- An Octopus is an Eight legged creature.

Types of quantitative data

1. Discrete data- has a particular fixed value. It can be counted

2. Continuous data- is not fixed but has a range of data. It can be measured.

Representation of Data
There are different ways to represent data such as through graphs, charts or tables. The general
representation of statistical data are:

 Bar Graph
 Pie Chart
 Line Graph
 Pictograph
 Histogram
 Frequency Distribution
Bar Graph
A Bar Graph represents grouped data with
rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the
values that they represent. The bars can be plotted
vertically or horizontally.

Pie Chart
A type of graph in which a circle is divided
into Sectors. Each of these sectors represents a
proportion of the whole.
Line graph
The line chart is represented by a series of data
points connected with a straight line.
The series of data points are called ‘markers.’

Pictograph
A pictorial symbol for a word or phrase, i.e.
showing data with the help of pictures. Such as
Apple, Banana & Cherry can have different
numbers, and it is just a representation of data.
 Histogram
A diagram is consisting of rectangles. Whose area is
proportional to the frequency of a variable and
whose width is equal to the class interval.

Frequency Distribution
The frequency of a data value is often represented
by “f.” A frequency table is constructed by
arranging collected data values in ascending order
of magnitude with their corresponding frequencies.

Measures of Central Tendency

In Mathematics, statistics are used to describe the central tendencies of the grouped and ungrouped
data. The three measures of central tendency are:

 Mean
 Median
 Mode
All three measures of central tendency are used to find the central value of the set of data.

Measures of Dispersion
In statistics, the dispersion measures help interpret data variability, i.e. to understand how
homogenous or heterogeneous the data is. In simple words, it indicates how squeezed or scattered
the variable is. However, there are two types of dispersion measures, absolute and relative. They are
tabulated as below:

Absolute measures of dispersion Relative measures of dispersion

1. Range 1. Co-efficient of Range

2. Variance 2. Co-efficient of Variation
3. Standard deviation 3. Co-efficient of Standard Deviation
4. Quartiles and Quartile deviation 4. Co-efficient of Quartile Deviation
5. Mean and Mean deviation 5. Co-efficient of Mean Deviation

Skewness in Statistics
Skewness, in statistics, is a measure of the asymmetry in a probability distribution. It measures the
deviation of the curve of the normal distribution for a given set of data.
The value of skewed distribution could be positive or negative or zero. Usually, the bell curve
of normal distribution has zero skewness.

ANOVA Statistics
ANOVA Stands for Analysis of Variance. It is a collection of statistical models, used to measure the
mean difference for the given set of data.

Degrees of freedom
In statistical analysis, the degree of freedom is used for the values that are free to change. The
independent data or information that can be moved while estimating a parameter is the degree of
freedom of information.

Applications of Statistics
Statistics have huge applications across various fields in Mathematics as well as in real life. Some of
the applications of statistics are given below:

 Applied statistics, theoretical statistics and mathematical statistics

 Machine learning and data mining
 Statistics in society
 Statistical computing
 Statistics applied to the mathematics of the arts