Themes: Statistics can be regarded as the
specialised set of probabilistic tools needed when the
`incomplete information' comprises
a set of data and a hypothesis about (or `model for') its form.
The generic tasks of statistics are
- 1.
- to estimate the values of model parameters;
- 2.
- to set confidence limits (error-bars) on those estimates;
- 3.
- to assess the level of support that the data provides for the hypothesis.
In this section we explore key aspects of the first two of these tasks, and
touch on the third.
[The material of this section will be supported by workshop-sessions in
weeks 17 and 18.]