Statistics is a mathematical science about the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It applies to a wide variety of academic disciplines, from the physical and social sciences to the humanities. Statistics are also used for making informed decisions. Statistical methods can be used to summarize or describe a collection of data. In addition, patterns in the data may be modelled in a way that accounts for randomness and uncertainty in the observations, and then used to draw inferences about the process or population being studied.