3/24/2017 Statistics:DataDescription

Statistics:DataDescription
Definitions

Statistic
Characteristicormeasureobtainedfromasample
Parameter
Characteristicormeasureobtainedfromapopulation
Mean
Sumofallthevaluesdividedbythenumberofvalues.Thiscaneitherbeapopulationmean(denotedby
mu)orasamplemean(denotedbyxbar)
Median
Themidpointofthedataafterbeingranked(sortedinascendingorder).Thereareasmanynumbersbelow
themedianasabovethemedian.
Mode
Themostfrequentnumber
SkewedDistribution
Themajorityofthevalueslietogetherononesidewithaveryfewvalues(thetail)totheotherside.Ina
positivelyskeweddistribution,thetailistotherightandthemeanislargerthanthemedian.Ina
negativelyskeweddistribution,thetailistotheleftandthemeanissmallerthanthemedian.
SymmetricDistribution
Thedatavaluesareevenlydistributedonbothsidesofthemean.Inasymmetricdistribution,themeanis
themedian.
WeightedMean
Themeanwheneachvalueismultipliedbyitsweightandsummed.Thissumisdividedbythetotalofthe
weights.
Midrange
Themeanofthehighestandlowestvalues.(Max+Min)/2
Range
Thedifferencebetweenthehighestandlowestvalues.MaxMin
PopulationVariance
Theaverageofthesquaresofthedistancesfromthepopulationmean.Itisthesumofthesquaresofthe
deviationsfromthemeandividedbythepopulationsize.Theunitsonthevariancearetheunitsofthe
populationsquared.
SampleVariance
Unbiasedestimatorofapopulationvariance.Insteadofdividingbythepopulationsize,thesumofthe
squaresofthedeviationsfromthesamplemeanisdividedbyonelessthanthesamplesize.Theunitson
thevariancearetheunitsofthepopulationsquared.
StandardDeviation
Thesquarerootofthevariance.Thepopulationstandarddeviationisthesquarerootofthepopulation
varianceandthesamplestandarddeviationisthesquarerootofthesamplevariance.Thesamplestandard
deviationisnottheunbiasedestimatorforthepopulationstandarddeviation.Theunitsonthestandard
deviationisthesameastheunitsofthepopulation/sample.
CoefficientofVariation
Standarddeviationdividedbythemean,expressedasapercentage.Wewon'tworkwiththeCoefficientof
Variationinthiscourse.
Chebyshev'sTheorem
Theproportionofthevaluesthatfallwithinkstandarddeviationsofthemeanisatleast wherek

>1.Chebyshev'stheoremcanbeappliedtoanydistributionregardlessofitsshape.

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3/24/2017 Statistics:DataDescription

EmpiricalorNormalRule
Onlyvalidwhenadistributioninbellshaped(normal).Approximately68%lieswithin1standard
deviationofthemean95%within2standarddeviationsand99.7%within3standarddeviationsofthe
mean.
StandardScoreorZScore
Thevalueobtainedbysubtractingthemeananddividingbythestandarddeviation.Whenallvaluesare
transformedtotheirstandardscores,thenewmean(forZ)willbezeroandthestandarddeviationwillbe
one.
Percentile
Thepercentofthepopulationwhichliesbelowthatvalue.Thedatamustberankedtofindpercentiles.
Quartile
Eitherthe25th,50th,or75thpercentiles.The50thpercentileisalsocalledthemedian.
Decile
Eitherthe10th,20th,30th,40th,50th,60th,70th,80th,or90thpercentiles.
LowerHinge
Themedianofthelowerhalfofthenumbers(uptoandincludingthemedian).Thelowerhingeisthefirst
Quartileunlesstheremainderwhendividingthesamplesizebyfouris3.
UpperHinge
Themedianoftheupperhalfofthenumbers(includingthemedian).Theupperhingeisthe3rdQuartile
unlesstheremainderwhendividingthesamplesizebyfouris3.
BoxandWhiskersPlot(BoxPlot)
Agraphicalrepresentationoftheminimumvalue,lowerhinge,median,upperhinge,andmaximum.Some
textbooks,andtheTI82calculator,definethefivevaluesastheminimum,firstQuartile,median,third
Quartile,andmaximum.
FiveNumberSummary
Minimumvalue,lowerhinge,median,upperhinge,andmaximum.
InterQuartileRange(IQR)
Thedifferencebetweenthe3rdand1stQuartiles.
Outlier
Anextremelyhighorlowvaluewhencomparedtotherestofthevalues.
MildOutliers
Valueswhichliebetween1.5and3.0timestheInterQuartileRangebelowthe1stQuartileorabovethe
3rdQuartile.Note,sometextsusehingesinsteadofQuartiles.
ExtremeOutliers
Valueswhichliemorethan3.0timestheInterQuartileRangebelowthe1stQuartileorabovethe3rd
Quartile.Note,sometextsusehingesinsteadofQuartiles.

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