What is importance of statistics?

Answer 1

Statistics is a branch of mathematics that deals with probabilities and the concept of relative certainty. Statistics are extremely important because, when calculated properly and reported accurately, they can give a very good estimate of the likelihood of a particular outcome and whether or not this outcome could be due to chance.

For instance, consider the statement "New Drug X is best treatment for Diabetes, study confirms". This is a pretty bold statement, particularly given the devastating consequences of diabetes and the myriad drugs currently prescribed to treat diabetes. Somewhere in the study, there should be statistical analysis of the data that will explain how the scientists determined "Drug X" was the best treatment for diabetes. Here you will find information such as the p value (which is a measure of confidence in the results), the CI (which is a measure of the range of uncertainty) and the actual calculated data value that demonstrates "Drug X" is the best treatment for diabetes. Without the statistics, you would not be able to demonstrate scientifically that "Drug X" was the best treatment for diabetes.