Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data. It is applicable to a wide variety of academic disciplines, from the natural and social sciences to the humanities, government and business ("Statanalysis Consulting", 2013). Statistics is used in decision making that affects our everyday lives.
The study of statistics is divided into two categories and has four levels of measurements. The two types of statistics are descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics is the organizing, presenting, and analyzing of data in an informative way. Inferential statistics is the methods used to estimate a property of a population on the basis of a sample. The four levels of measurements in statistics are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The first scale is nominal. The nominal level of measurement is the lowest level. Nominal data deals with names, categories, or labels. The next level is called the ordinal level of measurement. Data at this level can be ordered, but no differences between the data can be taken that are meaningful. The interval level of measurement deals with data that can be ordered, and in which differences between the data does make sense. The fourth and highest level of measurement is the ratio level. Data at the ratio level possess all of the features of the interval level, in addition to a zero value (Taylor, 2013).
Probability is used in business to both evaluate financial and decision-making risk and to improve business performance. Business statistics is the science of making sound decisions in spite of uncertainty, and it may be applied to fields ranging from econometrics and financial analysis to auditing and market research. Statistical techniques play a significant role in business applications. Factors such as randomness, sample