Statistics is a branch of mathematics that focuses on the collection of quantitative data for analysis. Statistics is vital in psychological research because it allows scientists to put collected data into an understandable medium that can both be researched by other scientists, and can be challenged by re-experimentation. This paper will discuss many possible functions of statistics and their uses. The differences and similarities between descriptive and inferential statistics will also be examined with examples provided for each. To understand statistics is to understand psychology, and the formal discipline of psychology relies on statistics for overall understanding of human behavior and scientific study of the human mind.