Crash Course Statistics #7: The Shape of Data: Distribution

When collecting data to make observations about the world, it isn't possible to collect ALL THE DATA. So instead of asking every single person about student loan debt, we take a sample of the population and use the shape of our samples to make inferences about the true distribution of our data. We can learn a lot about how something occurs, even without knowing the underlying process that causes it. We'll also introduce the normal (or bell) curve and talk about how we can learn some really useful things from a sample's shape - like if an exam was particularly difficult, how often old faithful erupts, or if there are two types of runners that participate in marathons!