Descriptive statistics deals with the formulation of simple summaries of data so that they can be clearly understood. The summaries of data may be either numerical representations or visualizations with simple graphs for further understanding. Typically, such summaries help in the initial phase of statistical analysis. There are two types of descriptive statistics:
- Measures of central tendency
- Measures of variability (spread)
Measures of central tendency include mean, median, and mode, while measures of variability include standard deviation (or variance), the minimum and maximum values of the variables, kurtosis, and skewness. We are going to discuss these two categories in the next section.