statistics

noun

1. (uncountable)A discipline, principally within applied mathematics, concerned with the systematic study of the collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation of data.

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

   “2004, David C. LeBlanc, Statistics: Concepts and Applications for Science, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, page 61, The application of statistics in the process of science can be divided into three parts: (1) obtaining data (experiment and sampling design), (2) summarizing and describing data (exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics), and (3) using data from samples and experiments to make estimates and test competing hypotheses about the universe (inferential statistics).”

   “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.”

2. (plural, plural-only)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.”

   “Sufficient statistics for a given estimation problem are a collection of statistics or, equivalently, a collection of functions of the random sample, that summarize or represent all of the information in a random sample that is useful for estimating any #92;textbf#123;q#125;(#92;#33;#92;boldsymbol#92;Theta#92;#33;).”

   ““Over the past month, the Department has held three separate meetings with the ACLU to receive feedback and engage the organization in the solutions,” the department said in a statement. “As a result of the meetings, the Department agrees that publishing FIO statistics going forward is necessary, and the Department is working toward personalizing interactions between officers and citizens.””

3. (form-of, plural)plural of statistic

verb

1. (form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person)third-person singular simple present indicative of statistic