Statistic Vocabulary

Choose the correct vocabulary word for the definition: This is a numerical description of a sample characteristic.

• statistic

• population

• census

• parameter

Determine if the underlined numerical value is a parameter or a statistic:  The average annually salary for 35 of a company’s 1200 employees is $57,000. 

• parameter

• statistic

A quantity that is calculated from sample data, such as the mean, median, or MAD (mean absolute deviation).

• statistic

• measure of variation

• standard deviation

• hand sanitizer

A question that can only be answered by using data and where we expect the data to have variability. For example, "Who is the most popular musical artist?" or "When do students in your class typically eat dinner?"

• statistical question

• non-statistical question

• hard question

• data-collecting question

This consists of the minimum, the three quartiles, and the maximum. It is often indicated by a box plot.

• five-number summary

• statistical question

• data

• geogebra

For a numerical or categorical data set, this tells you how many of each value or each category there are in the data set.

• distribution

• shape

• data

• bell-shaped

A distribution whose dot plot or histogram takes the form of a bell with most of the data clustered near the center and fewer points farther from the center.

A distribution with two very common data values seen in a dot plot or histogram as distinct peaks.

A distribution where one side of the distribution has more values farther from the bulk of the data than the other side, so that the mean is not equal to the median.

A distribution with a vertical line of symmetry in the center of the graphical representation, so that the mean is equal to the median.