Can you use few numbers in place of many to summarize your data?

This chapter looks at different summary measures to characterize and compare frequency distributions. First, it shows that different distributions may vary in several respects, namely central location, variability, skewness, and kurtosis. Next, it introduces a variety of summary measures for describing these characteristics and highlights their advantages and limitations. It then explains the concepts of standard scores and probability distributions. Finally, it discusses the normal distribution and the use of statistical tables