In this course, we take a more fundamental approach to estimation and quantifying the accuracy of estimates. There will also be some graphical interpretation with some examples and exercises making use of the statistical computer package R.

In statistical inference, we use a sample of data to draw inferences about some aspect of the population (real or hypothetical) from which the data were taken. Often the inference concerns the value of one or more unknown parameters, which describe some attribute of the population such as its location or spread. There are three main types of inference, namely, point estimation, interval estimation and hypothesis testing.