Transcription
Statistics is often hailed as one of the most useful areas of mathematics. It helps us to make educated guesses of the unknown, and find useful information in an ocean of data. But despite its usefulness, many people struggle with statistics. What is it, how does it work? For many statistics can feel like an unending collection of rules and formulas. Even worse, if its misapplied, statistics can lead to false conclusions, causing some people to develop a mistrust in the subject all together.
So, what is it all about then? Well, Statistics is the area of mathematics which primarily deals with collecting and analyzing data. Some great examples might be keeping track of your favorite team as they rack up wins and losses, or perhaps using data to try and predict the outcome of an election. To be more specific statistics can be broken down into the areas of: Sampling Methods, Descriptive Statistics, and Inferential Statistics.
In Sampling Methods we cover how we collect our data. This is arguably the most important area of all of statistics. It's important because it ensures that we collect our data in just the right way so that we can make valid conclusions later on. It also helps us know when we have just enough information for further analysis. Remember that even if you use the best formulas and techniques, a study can quickly fall apart if you do not collect your data in just the right way.
Descriptive Statistics is about summarizing or highlighting important aspects of our data. When people think of statistics they often think about this area. The tools here are about describing the information you have collected and task such as using a graph or calculating a simple average fall under the area of descriptive statistics.
Inferential Statistics is about making predictions from our data. Here the goal is to take just a small bit of information, analyze it carefully, and then see what conclusions we can infer about the bigger picture. It is this part of statistics that can seem the most mysterious, but in reality, is one of the most powerful and it allows us to find even more information from the data we've already collected.
Now when you take Statistics you may find that there are many other topics that don't seem to fall into these three areas. That because Statistics is not complete without exploring why the formulas and methods actually work, or more importantly when they should be used. For this reason other topics like probability form a healthy part of any statistics course. Think of these other topics as the framework and foundation that allows us to build so many other useful tools.
Lastly, when taking statistics, you may find that you need a little help. I'm not talking about your friend who happens to be great at math. I'm talking about using a calculator or computer. Although at some level many of the formulas can be very simple, using them for even a handful of data points can quickly become tedious and cumbersome. The good news is technology can really help with the required calculations. Remember even though you will certainly become familiar with using technology, you will still need to know when a tool needs to be applied, or what method is the most appropriate.
Hopefully that sheds a little bit of light on the subject of Statistics and motivates you to learn more about it. In this video we covered what statistics is, and its three main areas of focus. We also pointed out that technology can be your ally, but in the end, you have to make the decisions. Thanks for watching. Did you enjoy watching this video? Don't forget to hit the like button and then subscribe to my channel. As always you can find all of my videos free of charge at: MySecretMathTutor.com. Again, thanks for watching!