What is Statistics?
{{for|statistics about Wikipedia|Wikipedia:Statistics}} [[File:Standard Normal Distribution.png|thumb|upright=1.3|right|The [[normal distribution]] in Statistics]] '''Statistics''' is a branch of [[applied mathematics]] that deals with collecting, organizing, analyzing, reading and presenting data.<ref>DeGroot, M. H., & Schervish, M. J. (2012). Probability and statistics. Pearson Education.</ref><ref>Johnson, R. A., Miller, I., & Freund, J. E. (2000). Probability and statistics for engineers (Vol. 2000, p. 642p). London: Pearson Education.</ref><ref>Walpole, R. E., Myers, R. H., Myers, S. L., & Ye, K. (1993). Probability and statistics for engineers and scientists (Vol. 5). New York: Macmillan.</ref> [[Descriptive statistics]] make summaries of data.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Dean|first1=Susan|last2=Illowsky|first2=Barbara|date=|title=Descriptive Statistics: Histogram|url=https://cnx.org/contents/IKeXSLMS@14/Descriptive-Statistics-Histogram|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-13|website=cnx.org}}</ref><ref>Larson, M. G. (2006). Descriptive statistics and graphical displays. Circulation, 114(1), 76-81.</ref> [[Inferential statistics]] makes predictions.<ref>Asadoorian, M. O., & Kantarelis, D. (2005). Essentials of inferential statistics. University Press of America.</ref> Statistics helps in the study of many other fields, such as [[science]], [[medicine]],<ref>Lang, T. A., Lang, T., & Secic, M. (2006). How to report statistics in medicine: annotated guidelines for authors, editors, and reviewers. ACP Press.</ref> [[economics]],<ref>Wonnacott, T. H., & Wonnacott, R. J. (1990). Introductory statistics for business and economics (Vol. 4). New York: Wiley.</ref><ref>Newbold, P., Carlson, W. L., & Thorne, B. (2013). Statistics for business and economics. Boston, MA: Pearson.</ref> [[psychology]],<ref>Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (1999). Statistics for psychology. Prentice-Hall, Inc.</ref> [[politics]]<ref>Fioramonti, D. L. (2014). How numbers rule the world: The use and abuse of statistics in global politics. Zed Boo