Statistics, Descriptive

Abstract

Descriptive statistics are a suite of statistics that summarize the characteristics and distribution of a set of data values. In ‘classical statistics’, descriptive statistics of a data series include its ‘minimum’, ‘maximum’, ‘range’, ‘percentile’, ‘mean’, ‘median’, ‘mode’, ‘mean deviation’, ‘standard deviation’, ‘variance’, ‘skewness’, and ‘kurtosis’. Descriptive statistics represent information that can be used as the basis for comparing how data series differ. In ‘spatial statistics’, descriptive statistics are formulated by modifying classic statistics to accommodate the two-dimensional nature of geographic space. Commonly used descriptive spatial statistics include the ‘mean center’, the ‘standard deviation’, and the ‘standard deviational ellipse’.