Statistics

Alternative forms

• statisticks obsolete

Origin

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.

Full definition of statistics

Noun

1. (singular in construction) A mathematical science concerned with data collection, presentation, analysis, and interpretation.
• 2012-01, Robert L. Dorit, Rereading Darwin, 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. Statistics is the only mathematical field required for many social sciences.
3. (plural in construction) 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.
4. Plural of statistic

Synonyms

• stats informal

Derived terms