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Concept
Foundations of statistics
Summary
Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data, and is used to solve practical problems and draw conclusions. When analyzing data, the approaches used can lead to different conclusions on the same data. For example, weather forecasts often vary among different forecasting agencies that use different forecasting algorithms and techniques. Conclusions drawn from statistical analysis often involve uncertainty as they represent the probability of an event occurring. For instance, a weather forecast indicating a 90% probability of rain means it will likely rain, while a 5% probability means it is unlikely to rain. The actual outcome, whether it rains or not, can only be determined after the event.
Statistics is also fundamental to other disciplines of science that involve predicting or classifying events based on a large set of data. It is an integral part of machine learning, bioinformatics, genomics, economics, and more.
Statistics focuses on the quantitative characteristics of numerous repeatable phenomena. This is because certain conclusions in some fields are difficult to express with certainty, unlike mathematical formulas or theorems. For instance, it is commonly believed that taller parents are more likely to have taller children. However, it's important to note that individual parent-child pairings can deviate from these expectations, with the child potentially exceeding or falling short of the anticipated height based on their parent's stature. Randomness plays a role in height variations, influenced by factors like genetics, living environment, diet, habits, and other variables. Nevertheless, in general, taller parents are more likely to have taller children. Height can vary to a degree, exhibiting randomness. However, the overall stability of average height suggests the presence of a statistical rule within randomness. Therefore, statistics also encompasses the study of identifying statistical laws.
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