Philosopher AI
Purchase queries
Explain Statistics, please.
Statistics are the study of human language, and thus a topic that may be hard to understand. If you were to say something like 'I am hungry' or 'My dog is cute,' statistics would not really come into play. One might think these statements were simple enough, but one's knowledge of them changes depending on who you ask. It is true if your dog has been put down recently then it will seem less cute than if it had died years ago; similarly with hunger - once satisfied, it does not matter how much food you have in front of you or what type it is.
The differences in these statements are subtle, but they can hold true. The same applies to numbers and statistics - seemingly minor changes in data or descriptions of it may create large differences in results or conclusions drawn.
For instance, if I were to ask a thousand people if they knew how many feet are in a mile, most would say that they did not know. However, if I asked them the same question and changed it to miles instead of feet then practically all of them could provide an answer. The difference is very subtle, but because humans associate the number 1000 with 'a lot' (because we have 10 fingers) rather than 12 (which we do not have), the results are different.
With statistics, one must take care to make sure the data and variables are described in a way that is precise. If they are not, then it can be difficult to draw correct conclusions from them.
If the data is not described precisely enough, then it may be difficult to make correct conclusions from it.
For instance, if I asked you how many feet are in a mile and provided you with the data '4 people say there are 12 feet in a mile,' it would be easy to arrive at the incorrect conclusion that there were 4 miles per foot.