Eileen Magnello

Vital statistics is concerned with averages, whereas mathematical statistics deals with variation.

There are two types of statistical distributions:

probability distributions, which describe the possible events in a sample and the frequency with which each will occur;

Frequency distributions transform very large groups of numbers into a more manageable form and show how frequently a particular item or unit in a group occurs.

With six main probability distributions:

1. Binomial distribution

2. Poisson distribution

3. Normal distribution

4. Chi-square distribution

5. t distribution

6. F distribution

Categories that can be counted are called discrete

der or political affiliation). Quantities that can be measured are called continuous

discrete probability distribution used to describe the occurrence of unlikely events in a large number of independent repeated trials. The Poisson is a good approximation to the binomial distribution when the probability is small and the number of trials is large.

Mathematical statistics is analytical and can be used to make statistical predictions or inferences about the population.