Understanding Statistics and Parameters for Students

[danago]

Hey. I just wanted to clear something up. My texbook often refers to statistics and parameters. Is a statistic simply a calculation made on a sample, whereas a parameter is a property of the whole property from which the sample was taken?

Thanks in advance,
Dan.

 

[quadraphonics]

Yeah, basically. A common definition of "statistic" is "a function of a sample/observation." A parameter is a property of the underlying population distribution. For example, the sample mean is a statistic which, as the sample becomes large, approaches the population mean, which is a parameter.

 

[danago]

yep ok that answers my question thanks