Statistics deals with the collection and analysis of data. Statistical methods are extensively used in biology, medicine, health sciences, agriculture, business, finance, economics, engineering, and many other fields. Claims based on statistical arguments appear daily in the press, and it is difficult to assess these claims intelligently without knowledge of statistical methods.
The statistician's first job is to determine what data to collect, and how to collect it so that it will be without bias or distortion. These problems are discussed in the design of experiments and sample surveys. Statistical inference is concerned with inferring what the population is like on the basis of a small amount of data (the sample). The link between population and sample is provided by probability theory, which forms an important part of the statistics curriculum. Developing and assessing statistical models to describe the variation in some response in terms of other explanatory variables, and applications of these models is discussed throughout the statistics curriculum.
Other areas of pure and applied mathematics find applications in statistics. Calculus and linear algebra are used in the undergraduate program; abstract algebra, combinatorics, difference and differential equations, analysis, and measure theory are required in more advanced work. Many statistical analyses involve the computer, so a good background in computing is highly desirable.