Into Lecture 1 What is Statistics? One of the tools to understand information is “Statistics”. Example 1: Suppose you are at the grocery store and wish to buy a frozen pizza. One of the pizza makers has a stand, and they offer a small wedge of their pizza. After sampling the pizza, you decide whether to purchase the pizza or not. In this example, you make a decision and select a course of action based on a sample. Example 2: On a national level, a candidate for the office of a Chief Minister of Lahore wants to know what percent of the voters in Gulberg will support him in the upcoming election. There are several ways he could go about answering this question. He could have his staff call all those people in Gulberg who plan to vote in the upcoming election and ask for whom they plan to vote. He could go out on a street in Lahore, stop 10 people who look to be of voting age, and ask them whom they plan to vote. He could also select a random sample of 2,000 voters from the city, contact these voters, and, on the basis of this information, make an estimate of the percent who will vote for him in the upcoming election. Why we study statistics? 1) Data are everywhere. We need statistics to understand and analyze the information, 2) Statistical techniques are used to make many decisions that affect our lives, and 3) Statistical methods will help you make these decisions more effectively. What is meant by statistics? A collection of numerical information is called “Statistics”, e.g. the average time waiting for technical support is 17 minutes, the average length of the business cycle since 1945 is 61 months, etc. We often present statistical information in a graphical form. A graph is often useful for capturing reader attention and to portray a large amount of information, e.g.
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Lays Chips