1.

0 INTRODUCTION
What is Statistics?
Statistics is the science that deals with the collection, classification, analysis and interpretation of
information/data in order to make decisions.
Statistics is divided into 2 parts:
1. Descriptive statistics
2. Inferential statistics

Descriptive statistics

Inferential statistics

Process of data gathering, presentation and

Concerns with making conclusions or

summary

inferences from samples about the populations

from which they have been drawn.

Example: A researcher collects on the amount

students spent on food, leisure and academic
requirements from their study loan. He then
summarizes the data by finding the mean and
standard deviation of the data. He also did
some graphs and charts to present his findings.

Example:
A researcher did an analysis to find out if it is
true students spend less than 10% of their study
loan text books.

Statistics Definition
1. Population
A population is any entire collection of objects from which we may collect data.
This could be people, animals, microchips and so on.
Example: A study on the performance on four-wheel drive vehicles have population
consisting of all four-wheel drive vehicles.
2. Sample
A sample is a group of units that is subset of the population
Example: 54 wheel drive vehicles for six models are selected for the study
3. Variable
A variable is a particular characteristic of the object being studied. This characteristic can
take on different values as we measure/gather it from one object to another
Example: The variable measures could be fuel consumption, models of cars and seating
capacity
4. Random
Randomness means unpredictability. One of the requirements in sampling process is to
conform to randomness. Hence, the variable being measures is called random variables.
Example: A sample of 10 students that cross the school gate within 7.30 until 7.35 am
was randomly selected to be interviewed by the prefect.
5. Data
Data are basically numbers derived from measuring a variable. However data can also be
non-numeric
Example: Height (153.4cm, 141cm ) and favourite colour (red, blue)

6. Quantitative data (or numerical data)

-consists of numbers used for calculations.
-can be continuous or discrete
Divided by two parts:
i.

Continuous data can take on values in decimal places or fractions.

Example: weight, pressure, time, temperature, cost

ii.

Discrete data whole number.

Example: The number of cars in a parking lot. The number of students in
computer lab

7. Qualitative data ( or non numeric data )

-labels, names or levels
-can be divided into two types nominal and ordinal
Divided by two parts:
i.

Nominal data represent labels or names.

Example: the colour of pH paper (red=1, orange=2, yellow=3, blue=4 )

ii.

Ordinal data represent levels or order.

Example: the first, second and third place in a competition

8. Parameter
A parameter is a value used to represent a certain population characteristic. Parameters
are assigned Greek letters.
Example: mean =

and standard deviation =

9. Statistics
A statistics is a number summarizing some aspects of the data calculated using the data
collected from the sample. They are assigned roman letters.
Example : mean =

and standard deviation = s

Measure of Central Tendency

A ) Mean is the sum of the values, divided by the total number of values.

B ) Median is the most centrally located (middle) value.

M=
C ) Mode is the value that occurs most often in the data set. It is said to be the most typical case.

=L+C

Variance and Standard deviation

-Variance is the average of the squares of the distance each value from the mean. The symbol for
the population variance is

, sigma square. Whereas for sample variance is

-Standard deviation measure the distance of each value from the mean. It is the square root of the
variance. The symbol for the population variance is , sigma and s for sample standard
deviation.

2.0 PROBLEM BACKGROUND

We have chosen the I.C number of each students of 2DAA as we choose to collect a numeric
data for the tasks. A numerical data is also known as quantitative data which consists of numbers
that can be used for calculations. A quantitative data can be divided by two parts, Continuous
Data and Discrete Data. I.C number is considered as discrete data because the data is whole
number. Based on the data that we have collected, all of I.C number of each students in the class
appear to be in whole number.