2016-2017Introduction of biostatistics

Biostatistics can be defined as the application of the mathematical tools used in statistics to the fields of biological sciences and medicine.
Biostatistics is a growing field with applications in many areas including epidemiology, medical sciences, health sciences, educational research and environmental sciences. 
Biostatistics is concerned with:
a. Collection, organization and summarization of data
(descriptive statistics). For example:
Tables & Graphs
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Variability
Average rainfall in Hilla last year
Number of car thefts in last year
b. Drawing inferences about a body of data when only a
part of the data is observed.(inferential statistics).
Data from sample used to draw inferences about population
Data are numbers which can be measurements or can be obtained by counting.
Biostatistics is concerned with the interpretation of the data and the communication of information about the data.
A variable is an object ,characteristic or property that can have different values.
A quantitative variable can be measured in some way. (eg. height and weight), it is called (Numerical data).
A qualitative variable is characterized by its inability to be measured but it can be sorted into categories. (eg. person belong to certain ethnic group).(Non numerical data).
A random variable is one that cannot be predicted in advance because it arises by chance. Observations or measurements are used to obtain the value of a random variable.