What are the two branches of Statistics?

Data Science, AI and ML
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#1

The two main branches of statistics are descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Both of these are employed in scientific analysis of data and both are equally important for the student of statistics.

  • Descriptive Statistics: It deals with the presentation and collection of data. This is usually the first part of a statistical analysis. It is usually not as simple as it sounds, and the statistician needs to be aware of designing experiments, choosing the right focus group and avoid biases that are so easy to creep into the experiment.

  • Inferential Statistics: as the name suggests, involves drawing the right conclusions from the statistical analysis that has been performed using descriptive statistics. In the end, it is the inferences that make studies important and this aspect is dealt with in inferential statistics. Most predictions of the future and generalizations about a population by studying a smaller sample come under the purview of inferential statistics.