Descriptive Statistics

This chapter introduces the style of the analysis system used with the software and begins with simple analysis for summarizing data in graph and table format. For the majority of examples, Excel is used followed by Minitab and reference is made to MegaStat for Excel. Excel calculations produce values with many decimal points. In most circumstances, these are excessive considering the preciseness with which the original data were measured. The descriptive statistics are methods used to summarise the characteristics of a sample, e.g. the average value, but which also includes displays with graphs (charts) and tables. Graphical displays in their basic form provide indications of how the sample data are distributed. This is also possible using table forms such as a frequency table. All types of measurement are subject to error sources, and the consequence is that there is a degree of doubt or uncertainty concerning the experimental results.