Origin | History | Growth of Statistics

In this article, we will discuss the history, origin, and growth or development of the statistics. Historical Background of Statistics

ORIGIN / HISTORY / GROWTH OF STATISTICS

History of Statistics

Primitive humans may have been the first to use statistics when they made notches in trees to keep track of their possessions. Around the year 5000 BCE, it was common practice for rulers to conduct population and wealth censuses. War decisions were historically predicated on the relative strengths of infantry and elephantary troops, both on the side of the king and the enemy. In subsequent years, it expanded its reach to include the administrative and tax management spheres of their kingdoms. The term “statistics” originates from the Latin word “status,” the Italian word “statista,” or the German word “statistik,” all of which denote a “political state.” In its original sense, “statistics” meant the study and reporting of numerical data relating to a state’s or government’s demographic, social, and political conditions. The majority of the scientific and artistic fields can trace their roots back to its progressive development. Industry, agriculture, medicine, sports, and business analytics are just a few of the many theoretical and practical domains that make use of statistics during their respective developmental phases.

Statistics used to be employed for political and military purposes in the past. Its use was later broadened to include taxation. This can be seen in Kautilya’s Arthasastra, which dates back to 324–300 BCE. Raja Thodarmall, who was Akbar’s minister of finance, compiled data about the ownership of arable land. Modern actuarial science has its roots in vital statistics, which was established in the seventeenth century. The theory of errors in physical sciences was proposed by Gauss at the close of the eighteenth century.

Data collection, organization, summarization, presentation, analysis, and interpretation are the main foci of statistics, which is a branch of science. In common parlance, statistics can mean either numerical data or procedures.

There are two forms of the word “statistics”: singular and plural. For example, the number of accidents on a city’s busiest route in a day or the number of deaths in a state caused by a chronic disease in a month are examples of numerical statistics that can be acquired by measuring or counting in a systematic way with a defined aim. When used alone, it denotes the ideas and practices of statistics that deal with the collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation of numerical data.

Statistics was widely recognized for its significance, but it was during the twentieth century that it experienced great expansion. During this time, numerous novel theories and their practical applications were introduced across different fields. Many ideas and methods in statistics have been developed thanks to the work of famous statisticians. Some of them include the following: statistical inference, design of experiments, methods for correlation and regression, time series analysis, and forecasting.

There wasn’t much of a focus on statistics or statisticians in the early 1900s, but as technology expanded, the discipline grew in importance and began to permeate all areas of science and business. The consistent expansion of the statistician profession over the last century is remarkable, especially considering how small we typically perceive of it. Importantly, information technology is directly linked to the ongoing expansion of statistics. This has led to the development of a number of novel interdisciplinary fields. They include things like AI, Geographic Information Systems, Data Warehousing, Data Mining, and so on. Bioinformatics, signal processing, telecommunications, engineering, medicine, ecology, crime, and other hardcore technological fields are examples of modern uses of statistics.

Managers in today’s businesses would do well to educate themselves on the ways analytics may improve decision-making and, by extension, company results. They must be well-versed in the statistical principles that will allow them to make sense of the deluge of data at their fingertips. Decision trees, regression analysis, clustering, and association are some of the analytical tools they should be familiar with and capable of using to enhance company operations.

ORIGIN OF THE STATISTICS

Origin of statistics

• India has made a substantial contribution to statistics since the time of the Mauryan empire (321-296 BC), when the discipline was first established. In Ain-I-Akbari, penned by Abul Fazal, the Mughal emperor Akbar (1596–1597 CE) referred to a statistical system.
• For analyzing state statistics, Gottfried Achen Wall initially introduced the German phrase “Statistik” in 1749. The word “statistics” was used to describe the way states systematically gathered data by the 18th century.
• Officially, statistics was introduced in 1797 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Laplace (1749–1827) and Gauss (1772–1855) laid the groundwork for probability theory in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• Karl Pearson established the field of Mathematical Statistics in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Mathematical statistics were utilized by Galton and Karl Pearson in the realms of science, industry, and politics.
• Many disciplines benefited from the contemporary statistical science that Gosset and Fisher created in 1910 and 1920. These included genetics, biometry, psychology, education, agriculture, and many more.
• The contributions of E. Pearson and J. Neyman to the field of statistics in 1930 were substantial. From that point on, progress in the field of statistics was steady.

The Development and Growth of Statistics in India:

Growth and Development of Statistics

• P. C. Mahalanobis has played a pivotal role in the development of statistics in India.
• In 1931, in Kolkata, he established the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). At Kolkata University, he enrolled in a postgraduate statistics study for the first time in 1941.
• The National Sample Survey (NSS), which Mahalanobis launched in 1950, began collecting data.
• (The National Sample Survey Organisation is now known as NSSO.) There has been significant progress in Indian statistics thanks to the work of the Indian Agriculture Statistics Research Institute (LASRI).
• ‘Statistics is the science which deals with the collecting, analysis and interpretation of numerical data.’ (Crompton and Cowden, cited in the aforementioned definition)
• Now more than ever, statistics can provide light on both quantitative and qualitative data. One component of scientific methodology is statistics.
• Military undertakings throughout WWII made use of Operations Research-OR, a significant subfield of statistics.
• It is impossible to overlook the government’s and companies’ usage of OR. The field of statistical studies has grown in both breadth and significance thanks to recent positive developments.

That is all bout the history, origin, and growth or development of the statistics. Historical Background of Statistics

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