Statistics

The collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data are all things that fall under statistics. Statisticians must first go about collecting data from a large enough group known as a sample. A sample is known as a small representation of a larger group, called a population. To interpret all the data they have collected, statisticians will use numerical descriptors called the mean (or average) of the data as well as the standard deviation (how far apart data points tend to be from each other). This data can help statisticians figure out certain hypotheses and experiments.

Probability

Probability is a branch of mathematics that studies events and how likely they are to happen, or occur. The probability of an event will be a number between 0 and 1 where the larger the number is, the more likely the event is to occur. A popular example is a coin flip. There are two possible outcomes on a coin flip (heads or tails), so they are equally probable events. Since no other outcome is possible, the probability of a coin landing on either heads or tails is ½ (or we can write it as 0.5, or 50%).

How are statistics used in real life?

An easy example would be if we asked 100 patients at Children’s National Hospital what their favorite food was. Many patients may answer pizza or burgers, but others may say they like salad and stir fry. Statisticians can collect all this data and figure out what food should be added to the cafeteria to improve patients experience at the hospital.