statistics

• statisticks (obsolete)

• IPA^(key): /stəˈtɪstɪks/

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

statistics (uncountable)

1. A mathematical science concerned with data collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation.
   • 2012 January 1, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, page 23:

     We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

   Statistics is the only mathematical field required for many social sciences.

• Appendix:Glossary of probability and statistics

statistics pl (plural only)

1. 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.

• stats (informal)

statistics

1. plural of statistic