Statistics
Statistics is the collection, processing, interpretation and presentation of large amounts of data. The name is derived from the modern Latin phrase statisticum collegium, meaning lesson on state matters.
Modern statistics emerged in the late 19th century. Two main methods are used: descriptive statistics, which summarize data from a sample using concepts such as mean value and standard deviation, and inferential statistics, which draw conclusions from stochastic events.
There is a general view that statistics are all too often deliberately abused by showing only data favorable to the presenter. Distrust of statistics is associated with the statement, wrongly attributed to the English statesman Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881), "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
History
The origins of statistics go back a long way (see Figure):
- Arabian scholar al Farahidi (718 - 786)
- Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli (1655 - 1705)
- English priest Thomas Bayes (ca 1701 - 1761)
- French scholar Pierre-Simon marquis de Laplace (1749 - 1827)
- German scholar Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 - 1855)
- English mathematician Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890 - 1962)
- English mathematician Carl Pearson (1857 - 1936)
and many others.