Statistics I: data and correlations

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Abstract
Statistics is the mathematical science dealing with the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of numerical information (data). In descriptive statistics, raw data are simplified as tables, graphs, and summary statistics such as mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics is used to analyse and draw conclusions about a population of interest using data taken from a sample of the population, according to the laws of probability theory. Investigators are usually interested in populations rather than samples. For example, it is more useful to know the average arterial pressure in the UK adult population as a whole rather than in a much smaller sample in whom it is actually measured during the course of an investigation. As the study of entire populations is generally not possible, statistical methods are used to extrapolate from measured (known) sample characteristics to unmeasured (unknown) population characteristics.

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