General Mathematics VU
Statistics Topic 8
Definition: Methods of collection, organization and analysis of numerical information are collectively
called statistics. Pieces of numerical and non-numerical information are called data. In order to
collect data, you need to observe or measure some property; this property is called a variable.
Definition: A variable is qualitative if it is not possible for it to take a numerical value. A variable is
quantitative if it can take a numerical value. A quantitative variable which can take any value in a
given range is called a continuous variable. A quantitative variable which has clear steps between its
possible values is called a discrete variable.
Types of Statistics: Descriptive Statistics comprises those methods concerned with collection and
describing a set of data so as to yield meaningful information.
o Example: Summarized large amounts of data collected from the pool games of 2011 cricket
world cup to provide immediate meaningful information concerning the performance of each
team.
Inferential Statistics comprises those methods concerned with analysis of a subset of data leading to
predictions or inferences about the entire set of data.
o Example: Suppose we collected data for 30 years regarding the average rainfall in the month
of July in Lahore, and the amount came to be 3.3 centimeters. We make the inference that
next year in the month of July we can expect between 3.2 and 3.4 centimeters of rain.
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Where can Statistics Contribute?
Business and Industry
o Manufacturing
Improve product quality
Increase efficiency of processes
o Marketing
Conduct sample surveys
Determine product viability
Estimate advertisement effectiveness
o Engineering
Make consistent product
Predict product life
o Banking
Estimate the risk of a company defaulting on loan
Determine effective asset allocation for portfolios
Health and Medicine
o Epidemiology
Calculate cancer incidence rates
Monitor disease outbreaks
Study risk factors for various diseases
o Public Health
Design community efforts
Education programs
o Pharmacology
Drug discovery, development, and approval
Ensure validity of results in clinical trials
o Genetics
Identify potential indicators for specific diseases or traits
Test gene modification for treatment of diseases
Natural Resources
o Agriculture
Evaluate differences in crop management
Evaluate the best combinations of fertilizers, pesticides and densities of planting.
o Ecology
Study changes in local and global climate
Develop strategies to improve the environment
Study the impact of new industrial plants on surrounding ecology
o Geography
Evaluate the amount of rainfall one can expect for a given area based on longitude,
latitude and distance from the sea.
Social and Natural Sciences
o Physics
Determine when an increase in the density of cosmic rays signals the presence of a
supernova
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Conducting tests to determine existence of new particles.
o Chemistry
Predict shape of large molecules
Analysis of mass spectrometry data
o Biology
Seek to better understand why insects cluster
Identify genes related to a particular disease
o Sociology
Estimate the chances of a major war in the next five years
Study the increase in rates of marriage failure
Determine the characteristic of prisoners to study risk of them repeating criminal
behavior.
o Psychology
Study the effects of narcotics on schizophrenia
Determine if the existence of extrasensory perception can be demonstrated
Evaluate the relationship between shyness and loneliness
o Anthropology
Determine the age of an archaeological site
Analyze the percentage difference in body fat between urban and rural dwellers in
Pakistan
o Zoology
Evaluate the differences in behavior of caged animals when they are outdoors and
when they are indoors
Determine what techniques are more effective in counting a given species of bird.
Education
o Develop effective teaching strategies
o Research appropriate and informative evaluation (testing) instruments
o Identify risk factors for bullying, dropping out, failing
o Identify factors contributing to a decrease/increase in student achievement
o Study the proportion of graduates of various programs subsequently employed in their field
of study
Government Media and Law
o Government Agencies
Design and implement effective sampling strategies
Estimate the unemployment rate
Track and report changes in the economy
Regulations on stock trading, drug approval, pollution
o Journalism
Effective communication of statistical ideas to a broad audience
Participation in education efforts
o Expert Witness
Testify in court cases involving DNA evidence, salary discrepancies, discrimination,
and disease clusters
Definitions: A population is defined as the set of all possible members of a stated group.
A cross-section of the returns of all of the stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE) is an example of a population.
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Definition: A sample is defined as a subset of the population of interest. Once a
population has been defined, a sample can be drawn from the population, and the
sample’s characteristics can be used to describe the population as a whole.
Definition: A measure used to describe a characteristic of a population is referred to as a
parameter.
Definition: It is frequently too costly or time consuming to obtain measurements for
every member of a population, if it is even possible. In this case, a sample may be used.
In the same manner that a parameter may be used to describe a characteristic of a
population, a sample statistic is used to measure a characteristic of a sample.
Measurements Scales:
o Nominal scale: Observations are classified or counted with no particular order.
It consists of assigning items to groups or categories. No quantitative information
is conveyed and no ordering of the items is implied. Nominal scales are therefore
qualitative rather than quantitative.
Religious preference, race, and gender are all examples of nominal
scales.
o Ordinal scale: All observations are placed into separate categories and the
categories are placed in order with respect to some characteristic. Differences
between values makes no sense.
Political parties on left to right spectrum given labels 0, 1, 2; restaurant
ratings, etc, are examples of ordinal scales.
o Interval scale: This scale provides ranking and assurance that differences
between scale values are equal. Difference makes sense, but ratio doesn’t; and
there is no natural zero.
temperature (C,F) and dates are examples of interval scale
o Ratio scale: These represent the strongest level of measurement. In addition to
providing ranking and equal differences between scale values, ratio scales have a
true zero point as the origin.
Height, weight, age and length are all examples of ratio scale.
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