Statistics is about using data to describe, summarise and model the world around us. Whether it's cricket scores, the stock market or global warming, we need to understand probability and data analysis in order to make informed decisions and predictions.

This course develops basic concepts of probability, random variables and their distributions, and then shows how these ideas provide the theoretical foundation for data analysis through statistical modelling, estimation and hypothesis testing.

Although a variety of real problems are used to illustrate the concepts and methods, the emphasis in this course is on statistical theory. STAT2010 is an essential part of a Statistics major providing the necessary background for most 3000 level statistics courses. STAT2010 is also suitable for those students in a range of undergraduate programs who wish to understand why statistical methods work (and not just how to operate a statistical software package without any true comprehension).