OK, once we got some Julia basics under our belts, it is time to get familiar with statistics.
First of all, what is statistics anyway?
Hmm, actually I have never tried to learn the definition by heart (after all getting such a question during an exam is slim to none). Still, if I were to give a short (2-3 sentences) definition without looking it up I would say something like that.
Statistics is a set of methods for drawing conclusions about big things (populations) based on small things (samples). A statistician observes only a small part of a bigger picture and makes generalization about what he does not see based on what he saw. Given that he saw only a part of the picture he can never be entirely sure of his conclusions.
OK, feel free to visit Wikipedia (see statistics) and see how I did with my definition. The definition given there is probably more accurate and comprehensive than the one given above, but maybe mine will be easier to grasp for a beginner.
Anyway, my definition says “can never be entirely sure” so there needs to be some way to measure the (un)certainty. This is where probability comes into the picture. We will explore this concept in more than a few next pages.