Statistics

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Statistics \Sta*tis"tics\ (st[.a]*t[i^]s"t[i^]ks), n. [Cf. F.
     statistique, G. statistik. See {State}, n.]
     1. The science which has to do with the collection,
        classification, and analysis of facts of a numerical
        nature regarding any topic. Specifically: The science
        dealing with collection, tabulation, and analysis of facts


        respecting the condition of the people in a state.
  
     Note: [In this sense grammatically singular.]
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. pl. Classified facts of a numerical nature regarding any
        topic. Specifically:
        (a) Numerical facts respecting the condition of the people
            in a state, their health, their longevity, domestic
            economy, arts, property, and political strength, their
            resources, the state of the country, etc., or
            respecting any particular class or interest;
            especially, those facts which can be stated in
            numbers, or in tables of numbers, or in any tabular
            and classified arrangement.
        (b) (Sport) Numerical facts regarding the performance of
            athletes or athletic teams, such as winning
            percentages, numbers of games won or lost in a season,
            batting averages (for baseball players), total yards
            gained (for football players). The creation and
            classification of such numbers is limited only by the
            imagination of those wishing to describe athletic
            performance numerically.
  
     Syn: stats.
          [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     3. The branch of mathematics which studies methods for the
        calculation of probabilities.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  statistics
       n : a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the
           collection and interpretation of quantitative data and
           the use of probability theory to estimate population
           parameters

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  statistics
       
           The practice, study or result of the
          application of mathematical {functions} to collections of
          {data} in order to summarise or {extrapolate} that data.
       
          The subject of statistics can be divided into descriptive
          statistics - describing data, and analytical statistics -
          drawing conclusions from data.
       
          (1997-07-16)