Final answer:
A population characteristic summarizes a population, while a statistic is calculated from a sample.
Step-by-step explanation:
A population characteristic is a quantity that summarizes a population, while a statistic is a quantity calculated from the values in a sample.
For example, let's say we want to know the average height of all students in a school. The average height of all students in the school is a population characteristic because it summarizes the entire population. However, if we randomly select a group of students and calculate their average height, that would be a statistic because it is calculated from a sample.