The theory of statistics provides a basis for the whole range of techniques, in both study design and data analysis, that are used within applications of statistics. The theory covers approaches to statistical-decision problems and to statistical inference, the actions and deductions that satisfy the basic principles stated for these different approaches. Within a given approach, statistical theory gives ways of comparing statistical procedures. Apart from philosophical considerations about how to make statistical inferences and decisions, much of statistical theory consists of mathematical statistics, is linked to probability theory, to utility theory, to optimization. Statistical theory provides an underlying rationale and provides a consistent basis for the choice of methodology used in applied statistics. Statistical models describe the sources of data and can have different types of formulation corresponding to these sources and to the problem being studied; such problems can be of various kinds: Sampling from a finite population Measuring observational error and refining procedures Studying statistical relationsStatistical models, once specified, can be tested to see whether they provide useful inferences for new data sets.

Testing a hypothesis using the data, used to specify the model is a fallacy, according to the natural science of Bacon and the scientific method of Peirce. Statistical theory provides a guide to comparing methods of data collection, where the problem is to generate informative data using optimization and randomization while measuring and controlling for observational error. Optimization of data collection reduces the cost of data while satisfying statistical goals, while randomization allows reliable inferences. Statistical theory provides a basis for good data collection and the structuring of investigations in the topics of: Design of experiments to estimate treatment effects, to test hypotheses, to optimize responses. Survey sampling to describe populations The task of summarising statistical data in conventional forms is considered in theoretical statistics as a problem of defining what aspects of statistical samples need to be described and how well they can be described from a limited sample of data.

Thus the problems theoretical statistics considers include: Choosing summary statistics to describe a sample Summarising probability distributions of sample data while making limited assumptions about the form of distribution that may be met Summarising the relationships between different quantities measured on the same items with a sample Besides the philosophy underlying statistical inference, statistical theory has the task of considering the types of questions that data analysts might want to ask about the problems they are studying and of providing data analytic techniques for answering them. Some of these tasks are: Summarising populations in the form of a fitted distribution or probability density function Summarising the relationship between variables using some type of regression analysis Providing ways of predicting the outcome of a random quantity given other related variables Examining the possibility of reducing the number of variables being considered within a problem When a statistical procedure has been specified in the study protocol statistical theory provides well-defined probability statements for the method when applied to all populations that could have arisen from the randomization used to generate the data.

This provides an objective way of estimating parameters, estimating confidence intervals, testing hypotheses, selecting the best. For observational data, statistical theory provides a way of calculating a value that can be used to interpret a sample of data from a population, it can provide a means of indicating how well that value is determined by the sample, thus a means of saying corresponding values derived for different populations are as different as they might seem. Statistical theory provides the basis for a number of data-analytic approaches that are common across scientific and social research. Interpreting data is done with one of the following approaches: Estimating parameters Providing a range of values instead of a point estimate Testing statistical hypothesesMany of the standard methods for those approaches rely on certain statistical assumptions holding in practice. Statistical theory studies the consequences of departures from these assumptions. In addition it provides a range of robust statistical techniques that are less dependent on assumptions, it provides methods checking whether particular assumptions are reasonable for a given data set.

List of statistical topics Foundations of statistics Peirce, C. S. "Note on the Theory of the Economy of Research" in Coast Survey Report, pp. 197–201, NOAA PDF Eprint. Reprinted 1958 in Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce 7, paragraphs 139–157 and in 1967 in Operations Research 15: pp. 643–648, Abstract from JSTOR. Peirce, C. S.. "Note on the Theory of the Economy of Research". Operations Research. 15: 643. Doi:10.1287/opre.15.4.643. "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", "A Theory of Probable Inference" and Jastrow, Joseph, "On Small Differences in Sensation" in Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 3: pp. 73–83. Eprint. Bickel, Peter J. & Doksum, Kjell A.. Mathematical Statistics: Basic and Selected

The sixth season of One Tree Hill, an American television series, began on September 1, 2008 and concluded on May 18, 2009 with a total of 24 episodes. This is the third season to air on The CW television network; the season's seventh episode, "Messin' with the Kid" achieved a series high in Adults 18–34 with a 2.7 rating. Season six is the final season for original cast members Chad Michael Hilarie Burton, their characters and Peyton, leave Tree Hill with their newborn baby in the finale. Lucas proposes to Peyton, they decide to get married. Peyton gives Lucas the startling news. Nathan tries to make a comeback in basketball, Haley has to make a decision involving her career, Brooke takes in a young girl named Sam and deals with being attacked in her own store, Dan spends time with Jamie as he waits on a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a movie producer named Julian Baker comes to Tree Hill and wants to make An Unkindness of Ravens into a movie; the CW announced on March 2008 that One Tree Hill was renewed for a sixth season.

It was reported the season would consist of twenty-four episodes. Brooke begins her battle with her mom, who battles to claim Clothes Over Bro's. Lucas and the Ravens basketball team must come to terms with the death of the star player. Nathan begins his comeback, Haley hits the recording studio, while Peyton and Lucas settle down and begin a family. Brooke, left broken and shaken after her attack, takes in foster child Sam, responsible for the attack, the attacker turned out to be Q's killer. Nanny Carrie returns, after hitting Dan with a car, taking him hostage, she lures Haley and Jamie to her, attacks them, only to be killed by Dan, after weeks of torture. Mouth and Millicent have dramas and depart, while newcomer Julian Baker, rocks Brooke's world and begins to turn Lucas' book into a movie. With Peyton's alarming pregnancy, Lucas' allows for a wedding, only for Peyton to collapse at home, go into a coma; the season finale ends with Brooke and Julian declaring their love for one another, Nathan making it into the NBA, Lucas and Peyton leave Tree Hill.

The season opened to a 1.7 Adults 18 -- 49 rating. Episode 7 hit series highs in Adults 18–34 with a 2.7 rating, it hit its second best numbers in The CW's target audience of Women 18-34 with a 4.0 rating. The episode reached its highest Adults 18–49 rating of the season, with a 1.9. The finale was seen by 2.67 million viewers and achieved a 1.3 Adults 18–49. The DVD release of season six was released, it has been released in Region 1. As well as every episode from the season, the DVD release features bonus material such as audio commentaries on some episodes from the creator and cast, deleted scenes, gag reels and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Official website One Tree Hill on IMDb One Tree Hill at TV.com

Planet Nerd is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne produced by RMITV. It stars local Melbourne comedians Dan Walmsley, Paul Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou Pardi, Rob Lloyd, features other local Melbourne talent as well. Segments from the program are uploaded to YouTube, there is an official video podcast. Planet Nerd was nominated for Best Comedy Program in the 2008 Antenna Awards, which celebrate the best of Australian community television, though they did not win the award. On 17 September 2008, a new interview with Rocket Boom creator, Andrew Baron, was posted on the Planet Nerd web site. While no other new content has appeared, the original twelve episodes were repeated multiple times by Channel 31, as late as June 2009, it was broadcast on Triangle TV in New Zealand in 2007. Aimed at the geek demographic, Planet Nerd offers a variation on the variety show format, with host Dan Walmsley acting as an anchor, sometimes accompanied by one of the other presenters, throwing to various segments which include documentaries and sketches.

Each week the hosting segments are filmed in a different context forming a series of linked sketches themselves. Aside from the overt comedic content, Planet Nerd features original, semi-serious documentary segments which explore and celebrate various facets of geek culture. Subjects have included the roleplaying and wargaming convention Arcanacon, RoboGames, Sony's Wonder Technology Lab and National ICT Australia. A similar semi-regular segment is "Geek of the Week", in which a subject is interviewed by Ben McKenzie about their nerdy hobbies or profession. Footage of John Carnack's presentation at Apple Computer's 2007 World Wide Developer's Conference was posted by Planet Nerd on YouTube, resulting in over 43,000 views, making the programme the number one watched comedian on YouTube for 12 June 2007. Paul Verhoeven reviews recent films in an anarchic sketch-based format, concentrating on genre films like Michael Bay's Transformers. Rob Lloyd's "One Minute DVD Review" awards scores out of "Seven Samurai", instead of new releases focusses on classics, including box sets of early Doctor Who, The Muppet Show and the films of Harold Lloyd.

Planet Nerd has gathered some positive press, most notably in an article in The Age newspaper's Green Guide about Channel 31 programming, in which Marieke Hardy referred to the show as "magically dorky" and "adorably earnest". Australian technology web site Gizmodo reported on a Planet Nerd publicity stunt in which they celebrated the release of the iPhone by selling an fake oversized cardboard iPhone on eBay. Dan Walmsley posted a Planet Nerd response, the first video response, to Prime Minister John Howard's YouTube video about climate change policy, a video featured in a news.com.au article about the difficulty of finding the genuine article in amongst the remixes and parodies. The Planet Nerd video response has become an unofficial focus for debate on the site about Howard's announcement after commenting on the original video was disabled, with around 200 text comments and nearly 8,000 views. Official Planet Nerd website