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Quantitative Techniques – I

Notes

Notes Origin and Growth of Statistics

Statistics, as a subject, has a very long history. The origin of STATISTICS is indicated by the
word itself which seems to have been derived either from the Latin word ‘STATUS’ or
from the Italian word ‘STATISTA’ or may be from the German word ‘STATISTIK.’ The
meaning of all these words is ‘political state’. Every State administration in the past
collected and analysed data. The data regarding population gave an idea about the possible
military strength and the data regarding material wealth of a country gave an idea about
the possible source of finance to the State. Similarly, data were collected for other purposes
also. On examining the historical records of various ancient countries, one might find that
almost all the countries had a system of collection of data. In ancient Egypt, the data on
population and material wealth of the country were collected as early as 3050 B.C., for the
construction of pyramids. Census was conducted in Jidda in 2030 B.C. and the population
was estimated to be 38,00,000. The first census of Rome was done as early as 435 B.C. After
the 15th century the work of publishing the statistical data was also started but the first
analysis of data on scientific basis was done by Captain John Graunt in the 17th century.
His first work on social statistics, ‘Observation on London Bills of Mortality’ was published
in 1662. During the same period the gamblers of western countries had started using
statistics, because they wanted to know the more precise estimates of odds at the gambling
table. This led to the development of the ‘Theory of Probability’.
Ancient India also had the tradition of collection of statistical data. In ancient works, such
as Manusmriti, Shukraniti, etc., we find evidences of collection of data for the purpose of
running the affairs of the State where population, military force and other resources have
been expressed in the form of figures. The fact and figures of the Chandragupta Mauraya’s
regime are described in ‘Kautilya’s Arthashastra’. Statistics were also in use during the
Mughal period. The data were collected regarding population, military strength, revenue,
land revenue, measurements of land, etc. During the British period too, statistics were
used in various areas of activities.
Although the tradition of collection of data and its use for various purposes is very old, the
development of modern statistics as a subject is of recent origin. The development of the
subject took place mainly after sixteenth century. The notable mathematicians who
contributed to the development of statistics are Galileo, Pascal, De-Mere, Farment and
Cardeno of the 17th century. Then in later years the subject was developed by Abraham De
Moivre (1667 - 1754), Marquis De Laplace (1749 - 1827), Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777 - 1855),
Adolphe Quetelet (1796 - 1874), Francis Galton (1822 - 1911), etc. Karl Pearson (1857 - 1937),
who is regarded as the father of modern statistics, was greatly motivated by the researches
of Galton and was the first person to be appointed as Galton Professor in the University of
London. William S. Gosset (1876 - 1937), a student of Karl Pearson, propounded a number
of statistical formulae under the pen-name of ‘Student’.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

16. Statistics is used to present the .................... facts in a form that is easily understandable by
human mind and to make comparisons, derive valid conclusions, etc.
17. The first function of statistics is .................................

18. Statistics presents ............................ facts in a ....................... form.

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