Definitions

AcronymMeaningUse
PDFprobability density function (continuous)describes relative likelihood
PMFprobability mass function (discrete)probability at specific values
CDFcumulative distribution functionprobability ≤ x
CIconfidence intervalestimates parameter range
ANOVAanalysis of variancetests group mean differences

Key Symbols

SymbolMeaningUse
sample sizenumber of observations
i-th data valueindividual measurement
sample meanaverage of sample
population meantrue average
, sample SD, variancesample spread
, population SD, variancetrue spread
success probabilityBernoulli success rate
count of successesnumber of positive outcomes
rate parameterevents per unit time
significance levelprobability of Type I error
standard quantilescritical values
chi-square quantilevariance test value
intercept, sloperegression coefficients
coefficient of determinationexplained variance fraction

Basics

ConceptFormulaUse
Meancentral location
Sample Variancemeasure of dispersion
Population Varianceactual dispersion
PDFdensity shape
CDF (cont.)cumulative probability
PMFdiscrete probability at k
CDF (disc.)cumulative discrete prob.

Discrete Distributions

DistributionPMFCDFMean / VarUse
Binomial or like (P), modeling # successes in n trials
Poisson , counts of rare events
Binomial

Continuous Distributions

DistributionPDFCDF, Use
Normal , symmetric spread around mean
Exponential , time between Poisson events
Lognormal , modeling skewed positive data
Gamma , sum of exponentials
Weibull , life/failure time distribution

Parameter Estimation

EstimateFormulaUse
CI for meaninterval for true mean
CI for varianceinterval for true variance
CI for proportioninterval for true proportion

Hypothesis Testing

TestStatisticDecision RuleUse
Z-testreject if test mean with known
T-testreject if test mean with unknown
p-valuereject if quantify evidence against

Error Propagation

RuleFormulaUse
Addition / Subtractioncombine absolute errors
Multiplication / DivisionZ
PowerZ
General Functionderivative propagation
Outlier Criterion (Chauvenet)detect outliers

Regression Analysis

ConceptFormulaUse
Slopeeffect per unit change
Interceptvalue when x=0
proportion variance explained
ANOVA Ftest overall regression fit