5 What Are Statistics?

Overview

Statistics are numbers, but the practice of statistics is the craft of measuring imperfect knowledge. That’s one definition, and there are many more.

This chapter is a collection of short essays to get you started on the many ways of statistical thinking and to familiarize you with the terminology of the field.

Chapter Contents

Overview

Ponderings

The Business of Statistics

The Yin and Yang of Statistics

The Faces of Statistics

Don’t Panic

Preparations

Three Levels of Uncertainty

Probability and Randomness

Assumptions

Data Mining?

Statistical Terms

Ponderings

The Business of Statistics

The discipline of statistics provides the framework of balance sheets and income statements for scientific knowledge. Statistics ...

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