Definition

1. Noun (uncountable):

   • The discipline or science of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data: "Statistics" refers to the mathematical field that deals with quantitative information, using methods like probability theory to draw conclusions and make predictions about populations based on samples.

2. Noun (plural in form, often used with a plural verb):

   • A collection of quantitative data or numerical facts: "Statistics" can refer to the actual data figures themselves, such as numbers representing measurements, counts, or percentages.

Usage

• As an uncountable noun (the science): "Statistics is a challenging but useful subject."
• As a plural noun (the data): "The statistics from the survey are very interesting."

Examples

• As the science (uncountable):
  • She studied statistics in college to become a data analyst.
  • Modern statistics relies heavily on computational power.
• As the data (plural):
  • The government publishes crime statistics every year.
  • These statistics show a clear trend in consumer behavior.

Advanced Usage

• "Vital statistics": Officially recorded data concerning births, deaths, marriages, etc.; informally, it can refer to a person's body measurements (e.g., chest, waist, hip).
  • The hospital registrar is responsible for maintaining vital statistics.
• "In statistics": Within the field or methodology of statistical science.
  • In statistics, a large sample size generally increases reliability.

Variants and Related Words

• Statistic (n): A single numerical piece of data or a measure calculated from a sample.
  • The average score is a useful statistic.
• Statistical (adj): Relating to or based on statistics.
  • They performed a detailed statistical analysis.
• Statistician (n): An expert in or practitioner of statistics.
  • The company hired a statistician to review their models.

Synonyms

• Data analysis (for the science).
• Figures, numbers, data (for the quantitative facts).

Related Phrases

• Descriptive statistics: Methods for summarizing and describing the main features of a dataset.
  • The report began with some basic descriptive statistics.
• Inferential statistics: Methods for using sample data to make generalizations about a larger population.
  • The study used inferential statistics to predict election results.

Noun

1. a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters