Statistics for Data Science 1 - W2_L1: Describing categorical data - frequency distributions

Welcome to Week 2 Lecture 1 of the course "Statistics for Data Science - I" by Prof. Andrew Thangaraj. Full Course: https://study.iitm.ac.in/ds/course_pages/BSMA1002.html Video Overview In this lecture, we begin exploring descriptive statistics by learning how to describe categorical data using frequency distributions. The session explains the difference between samples and populations and emphasizes the importance of structured data in tabular form. You will understand the role of variables, observations, and cases, and revisit measurement scales such as nominal, ordinal, and ratio. The lecture demonstrates how to construct frequency tables for categorical variables—both manually and using Google Sheets—and introduces the concept of relative frequency to make meaningful comparisons across datasets. By the end of this lecture, you’ll gain a strong foundation for organizing and summarizing categorical data effectively. About IIT Madras' online Bachelor of Science programme IIT Madras offers four-year BS programmes that aim to provide quality education to all, irrespective of age, educational background, or location. The BS programme has multiple levels, which provide flexibility to students to exit at any of these levels. Depending on the courses completed and credits earned, the learner can receive a Foundation Certificate from IITM CODE (Centre for Outreach and Digital Education), Diploma(s) from IIT Madras, or BSc/BS Degrees from IIT Madras. For more details, Visit: https://www.iitm.ac.in/academics/study-at-iitm/non-campus-bs-programmes #DescriptiveStatistics #Sample #Population #Data #StructuredData #Variables #Observations #Cases #MeasurementScales #NominalVariables #OrdinalVariables #RatioVariables #FrequencyDistribution #FrequencyTable #GoogleSheets #RelativeFrequency #CategoricalData #Statistics #IITMadras #OnlineLearning #BSProgramme #Education #DataScience #StatisticsForDataScience