Swarm Intelligence

general. It is necessary to understand how the sample represents the pop-

ulation about which inferences will be made.

Inferential Statistics

Inferential statistics, such as t-tests, analysis of variance, chi-square, and

some nonparametric statistics, do more than just compare groups that

are observed in the experiment; they allow inferences about the popula-

tion. That is, they extrapolate from a small sample to estimate what

would happen if all possible tests were run; this enables generalization

from data with known certainty. For instance, to measure the perfor-

mance of a new algorithm you might have the time and energy to run it

using every possible ...