1
Overview
Review of Basic Statistical
Concepts and Matrices
‘The material in this chapter is generally taught in a first course in statistical meth-
ods, which is prerequisite for studying this book. So, depending on the reader's
background, this chapter may be treated as a quick review or may be studied in
depth.
Whats Statistics?
‘Statistics, in a narrow sense is a branch of science thet deals with making inferences
‘about populations based on samples. In a broader sense, statistics encompasses col-
Jection, organization, and summarization of data; presentation of data in tabular and
graphical form; developing models for the purpose of understanding random and
nonrandom phenomena; use of models for prediction; mathematical approaches to