Statistics is a organised set of concepts, procedures, rules that helps us to organise ,understand and make informed decisions.It involves measurement of data and catogorical data .Statistics involves putting data in the form of tables , pie charts, histograms and graphs.
History
The word statistics comes from the Italian word statista (which means “statesman”) or the German word statistik which also means political state. It was defined as the political science of the several countries by Professor Gottfried Achenwall. In the famous book Elements of Universal Erudition statistics is defined as “the science that teaches us the political arrangement of all the modern states of the known world." We cover this and more when yoiu get statistics homework help .
The science of statistics originates mainly from two sources:
- Government Records, and
- Mathematics.
In government records statistics appeared recording the census of population, military strength, taxable capacity of the people, births and deaths, etc. Since this statistical data was collected for governmental purposes, statistics was then described as the science of kings or the science of statecraft.
In applied mathematics the present statistical methods, particularly those concerned with drawing inferences, are based on the mathematical theory of probability. Statistical techniques in the form of regression, normal curve, chi-square, the goodness of fit test and so on were all developed during the last century using mathematical theories.
Summary
Any data if presented scientifically can be very helpful in drawing inferences and taking important decisions. We will take a look at organising any given data set in the next section.