Questions tagged [statistics]
For questions about the science that deals with classification, analysis and interpretation of numerical facts and data.
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Why is a time series not called a time sequence?
In pure mathematics, a sequence is a list of terms, for instance $1, \frac12, \frac14, \dots, \frac{1}{2^k},\dots$, and a series is the sum of an infinite sequence, for instance $\sum_{k=1}^\infty \...
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Significance level $\alpha$ values - who devised to use $\alpha = 5 \%$?
In a statistical hypotheses testing a significance level $\alpha$ has to be set. The most often, $\alpha$ is set to be 5 %, sometimes 1 % and 10 % values are used.
Value of $\alpha$ tells us what is ...
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Quotation about $\pi$ and the number of deaths
I read more than once a story which took place, if memory serves me well, in England, in the XIXth century. A statistician (or a mathematician) was making computations about life expectancy (or ...
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How did Weibull derive the three parameter Weibull distribution?
How did Weibull or any other mathematician arrive at the above expression? I saw the 1951 paper, but it is not clear to me. In 1939 he had published a book called "A Statistical Theory of the Strength ...
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Where does $M$ for expected value in Russian papers come from?
In modern papers in statistics, it is common to use the symbol $E[X]$ to refer to the expectation of a random variable $X$.
While reading (a translated version of) "Convergence Rate of Nonparametric ...
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Why do many names of technical and scientific subjects end with "ics"?
The names of many technical and scientific subjects, like mathematics, physics, statistics, etc., etc., end with letters "ics". What is meant by this, if anything? Was there any logic behind it or is ...
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How is the word kernel associated with distributions?
I am trying to rationalize the meaning of the term kernel, especially when it is associated with distributions. The English and German etymology all show that the literal meaning is corn (English) and ...
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Introduction of shape parameters in the formulation of probability distribution
I'm familiar with the definition of location, scale, and shape parameters, and the type of distributions they parametrized. I'm interested in understanding how shape parameters became part of the ...
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Where did the story about Newcomb observing Benford’s Law come from?
The story goes that in the 1880s Newcomb noticed that logarithm tables were more worn down towards the beginning of the book (where the leading digit of the logs were 1). This led him to formulate an ...
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How did Quetelet discover that the body mass is proportional to the squared height?
The Body Mass Index (BMI) compares body masses on the assumption they scale with height squared, not cubed, an example of allometry. BMI is due to Lambert Quetelet. Why did he settle on this power law?...
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Who came up with a number of the theoretical plates equation?
In chromatography, the signal is shaped like a Gaussian peak, and it is plotted against time vs. instrument's signal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatography#/media/File:Rt_5_12.png
(a) One of ...
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Real effects long thought to be coincidences
What examples are there of scientific effects or correlations that we now know to be real, and were known about for a long time but thought to be coincidences?
To give an example of the kind of thing ...
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What is the etymology of the term "mode" in statistics?
I saw that the word "mode" means "popular" in French, and I was wondering if this might be the etymology of the "mode" of a population in stat?
I was wondering if anyone had sources for early use of ...
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Why statistical moments are called moments?
According to the Jeff Miller's Earliest Known Uses of the Words of Mathematics "Moment was taken into Statistics from Mechanics by Karl Pearson when he treated the frequency-curve (or observation ...
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Statistical Power as a Microscope Metaphor
An answer on this question on the cross validated stack exchange compared statistical power to a microscope, such that "in order to see small things you need a powerful microscope" is analogous to "in ...
