History of Statistics Essay

The history of statistics can be said to start around 1749 although, over time, there have been changes to the interpretation of the word statistics. By the 18th century, the term â€Å"statistics† designated the systematic collection ofdemographic and economic data by states. In the early 19th century, the meaning of â€Å"statistics† broadened to include the discipline concerned with the collection, summary, and analysis of data. Today statistics is widely employed in government, business, and all the sciences. Electronic computers have expedited statistical computation, and have allowed statisticians to develop â€Å"computer-intensive† methods. The Word statistics have been derived from Latin word â€Å"Status† or the Italian word â€Å"Statista†, meaning of these words is â€Å"Political State† or a Government. Shakespeare used a word Statist is his drama Hamlet (1602). In the past, the statistics was used by rulers. The application of statistics was very limited but rulers and kings needed information about lands, agriculture, commerce, population of their states to assess their military potential, their wealth, taxation and other aspects of government. Gottfried Achenwall used the word statistik at a German University in 1749 which means that political science of different countries. In 1771 W. Hooper (Englishman) used the word statistics in his translation of Elements of Universal Erudition written by Baron B.F Bieford, in his book statistics has been defined as the science that teaches us what is the political arrangement of all the modern states of the known world. There is a big gap between the old statistics and the modern statistics, but old statistics also used as a part of the present statistics. During the 18th century the English writer have used the word statistics in their works, so statistics has developed gradually during last few centuries. A lot of work has been done in the end of the nineteenth century. At the beginning of the 20th century, William S Gosset was developed the methods for decision making based on small set of data. During the 20th century several statistician are active in developing new methods, theories and application of statistics. Now these days the availability of electronics computers is certainly a major factor in the modern development of statistics. * Statistics helps in providing a better understanding and exact description of a phenomenon of nature. * Statistical helps in proper and efficient planning of a statistical inquiry in any field of study. * Statistical helps in collecting an appropriate quantitative data. * Statistics helps in presenting complex data in a suitable tabular, diagrammatic and graphic form for an easy and clear comprehension of the data. * Statistics helps in understanding the nature and pattern of variability of a phenomenon through quantitative obersevations. * Statistics helps in drawing valid inference, along with a measure of their reliability about the population parameters from the sample data. * Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. * Biostatistics is a branch of biology that studies biological phenomena and observations by means of statistical analysis, and includes medical statistics. * Business analytics is a rapidly developing business process that applies statistical methods to data sets (often very large) to develop new insights and understanding of business performance & opportunities * Chemometrics is the science of relating measurements made on a chemical system or process to the state of the system via application of mathematical or statistical methods. * Demography is the statistical study of all populations. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic population, that is, one that changes over time or space. * Econometrics is a branch of economics that applies statistical methods to the empirical study of economic theories and relationships. * Environmental statistics is the application of statistical methods to environmental science. Weather, climate, air and water quality are included, as are studies of plant and animal populations. * Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. * Geostatistics is a branch of geography that deals with the analysis of data from disciplines such as petroleum geology,hydrogeology, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, geochemistry, geography. * Operations research (or Operational Research) is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics and formal science that uses methods such as mathematical modeling, statistics, and algorithms to arrive at optimal or near optimal solutions to complex problems. * Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. * Psychometrics is the theory and technique of educational and psychological measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. * Quality control reviews the factors involved in manufacturing and production; it can make use of statistical sampling of product items to aid decisions in process control or in accepting deliveries. * Quantitative psychology is the science of statistically explaining and changing mental processes and behaviors in humans. * Statistical finance, an area of econophysics, is an empirical attempt to shift finance from its normative roots to a positivistframework using exemplars from statistical physics with an emphasis on emergent or collective properties of financial markets. * Statistical mechanics is the application of probability theory, which includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations, to the field of mechanics, which is concerned with the motion of particles or objects when subjected to a force. * Statistical physics is one of the fundamental theories of physics, and uses methods of probability theory in solving physical problems. * Statistical thermodynamics is the study of the microscopic behaviors of thermodynamic systems using probability theory and provides a molecular level interpretation of thermodynamic quantities such as work, heat, free energy, and entropy.