6 Statistics and Probability
Probability and statistics are two related but separate academic disciplines.
Statistical analysis often uses probability distributions and the two topics are often
studied together. However, probability theory cont ains much that is of mostly of
mathematical interest and not directly relevant to statistics. Moreover, many topics
in statistics are independent of probability theory.
Probability (or likelihood) is a measure or estimation of how likely it is that some-
thing will happen or that a statement is true. Probabilities are given a value between
0 (0% chance or will not happen) and 1 (100% chance or will happen). The higher
the degree of probability, the more likely the event is to happen, or, in a longer series