Editing Statistics (section)

== Introduction ==
{{main|Outline of statistics}}
{{blockquote|"Statistics is both the science of uncertainty and the technology of extracting information from data." - featured in the International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.<ref name="Hand20102">{{Cite book |last=Hand |first=David |title=International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-642-04898-2 |editor-last=Lovric |editor-first=Miodrag |pages=1504–1509 |language=en |chapter=Statistics: An Overview}}</ref>}}Statistics is the discipline that deals with [[data]], facts and figures with which meaningful information is inferred. Data may represent a numerical value, in form of quantitative data, or a label, as with qualitative data. Data may be collected, presented and summarised, in one of two methods called descriptive statistics. Two elementary summaries of data, singularly called a statistic, are the mean and dispersion. Whereas inferential statistics interprets data from a population sample to induce statements and predictions about a population.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Tanton |first=James |title=Encyclopedia of Mathematics |publisher=Facts On File |year=2005 |isbn=0-8160-5124-0 |pages=478–484 |language=en |chapter=Statistics}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2024-12-06 |title=Statistics {{!}} Definition, Types, & Importance {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/statistics |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Hand20102" />

Statistics is regarded as a body of science<ref name=":3">Moses, Lincoln E. (1986) ''Think and Explain with Statistics'', Addison-Wesley, {{isbn|978-0-201-15619-5}}. pp. 1–3</ref> or a branch of mathematics.<ref>Hays, William Lee, (1973) ''Statistics for the Social Sciences'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, p. xii, {{isbn|978-0-03-077945-9}}</ref> It is based on probability, a branch of mathematics that studies random events. Statistics is considered the science of uncertainty. This arises from the ways to cope with measurement and sampling error as well as dealing with uncertanties in modelling. Although probability and statistics were once paired together as a single subject, they are conceptually distinct from one another. The former is based on deducing answers to specific situations from a general theory of probability, meanwhile statistics induces statements about a population based on a data set. Statistics serves to bridge the gap between probability and applied mathematical fields.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=David |title=Weighing the Odds: A Course in Probability and Statistics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780521006187 |pages=xi-xvii |language=en |chapter=Preface}}</ref><ref name="Hand20102" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rudas |first=Tamas |title=International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-642-04898-2 |editor-last=Lovric |editor-first=Miodrag |pages=1123–1126 |language=en |chapter=Probability Theory: An Outline}}</ref>

Some consider statistics to be a distinct [[Mathematical sciences|mathematical science]] rather than a branch of mathematics. While many scientific investigations make use of data, statistics is generally concerned with the use of data in the context of uncertainty and decision-making in the face of uncertainty.<ref>{{cite book |last=Moore |first=David |title=Statistics for the Twenty-First Century |publisher=The Mathematical Association of America |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-88385-078-7 |editor=F. Gordon |location=Washington, DC |pages=[https://archive.org/details/statisticsfortwe0000unse/page/14 14–25] |chapter=Teaching Statistics as a Respectable Subject |editor2=S. Gordon |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/statisticsfortwe0000unse/page/14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chance |first=Beth L. |author1-link=Beth Chance |title=Investigating Statistical Concepts, Applications, and Methods |author2=Rossman, Allan J. |publisher=Duxbury Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-495-05064-3 |chapter=Preface |access-date=2009-12-06 |chapter-url=http://www.rossmanchance.com/iscam/preface.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122092901/http://www.rossmanchance.com/iscam/preface.pdf |archive-date=2020-11-22 |url-status=live}}</ref> Statistics is indexed at 62, a subclass of probability theory and stochastic processes, in the Mathematics Subject Classification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Classification Search Result - zbMATH Open |url=https://zbmath.org/classification/?q=cc:62 |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=zbmath.org}}</ref> Mathematical statistics is covered in the range 276-280 of subclass QA (science > mathematics) in the Library of Congress Classification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Higham |first=Nicholas J. |title=Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences |publisher=Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics |year=1998 |isbn=0-89871-420-6 |pages=214 |language=en |chapter=Aids and Resources for Writing and Research}}</ref>

The word statistics ultimately comes from the Latin word Status, meaning "situation" or "condition" in society, which in late Latin adopted the meaning "state". Derived from this, political scientist Gottfried Achenwall, coined the German word statistik (a summary of how things stand). In 1770, the term entered the English language through German and referred to the study of political arrangements. The term gained its modern meaning in the 1790s in John Sinclair's works.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sheynin |first=Oscar |title=International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science |publisher=Springer |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-642-04898-2 |editor-last=Lovric |editor-first=Miodrag |pages=1493–1504 |language=en |chapter=Statistics, History of}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-19-283098-8 |editor-last=Hoad |editor-first=T. F. |pages=460 |language=en}}</ref> In modern German, the term statistik is synonymous with mathematical statistics. The term statistic, in singular form, is used to describe a function that returns its value of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistik |url=https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/mathematik/statistik/9965 |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=www.spektrum.de |language=de}}</ref>