Definition: Statistics

From New World Encyclopedia
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Etymology

From German Statistik, from New Latin statisticum (of the state) and Italian statista (statesman, politician), compare English statist. Statistik introduced by Gottfried Achenwall (1749), originally designated the analysis of data about the state.

Noun

statistics (uncountable)

  1. A discipline, principally within applied mathematics, concerned with the systematic study of the collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data.
    Statistics is the only mathematical field required for many social sciences.
  2. A systematic collection of data on measurements or observations, often related to demographic information such as population counts, incomes, population counts at different ages, etc.
    The statistics from the Census for apportionment are available.

Usage notes

Within mathematics, the term statistics usually refers to mathematical statistics.

Derived terms

  • algebraic statistics
  • applied statistics
  • astrostatistics
  • biostatistics
  • Bose-Einstein statistics
  • descriptive statistics
  • ethnostatistics
  • geostatistics
  • inferential statistics
  • lexicostatistics
  • mathematical statistics
  • parastatistics
  • particle statistics
  • phonostatistics
  • photostatistics
  • statistician
  • stats
  • stylostatistics
  • superstatistics
  • thermostatistics
  • vital statistics

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