History of Statistics

Statistics emerged in remote times through a long process of development and evolution

Simple data collection evolved into diverse and rigorous data interpretation

Chronicles, written data, and archaeological remains reveal that the origin of statistics dates back to the beginnings of history

Graphic representations and symbols were employed on skins, rocks, wooden sticks, and cave walls to tally people, animals, and items

As society formed, the need arose to know things like the number of inhabitants in a tribe

On the island of Sardinia, prehistoric monuments of the Nuragic people contain basalt blocks with engravings interpreted as notches for counting livestock and game

Around 3000 BC, Babylonians used small clay tablets to record agricultural production and bartered goods in tables

Egyptians analyzed population data and country income before the construction of the pyramids in the 31st century BC

Ancient Egyptian monuments display documents demonstrating organized governance, constant census-taking, and population movement tracking

Assyrian King Sargon II founded a library in Nineveh with historical, religious, and statistical data on production, accounts, medicine, and astronomy

The Bible includes a census conducted by Moses after the exodus from Egypt, as described in the book of Numbers

Ancient Chinese performed censuses over forty centuries ago

Confucius describes King Yao ordering an agricultural, industrial, and commercial statistic in 2238 BC in the Shu-King classic from 550 BC

Greece had notable statistical observations for land distribution and military service

Socrates, Herodotus, and Aristotle promoted statistics for its importance to the state

Greeks conducted periodic censuses for taxation, social reasons (land division), and military purposes (resource and manpower calculation)

Historical research indicates 69 censuses were carried out to calculate taxes, determine voting rights, and assess military power

The Roman Empire was the first government to compile extensive data on the population, area, and income of its territoriesunder its control

Romans, known for political organization, excelled at utilizing statistical resources

Every five years, a population census was conducted and public officials were required to record:

• Births
• Deaths
• Marriages
• Periodic livestock counts
• Wealth in conquered lands

Few statistical operations occurred in the years following the fall of the Roman Empire

Notable exceptions include land relations belonging to the Church, compiled by Pipino el Breve in 758 and Carlomagno in 762 AD

Despite attempts by Charlemagne in France and William the Conqueror in England to revive Roman techniques, statistical methods were largely forgotten during the Middle Ages

The Incas of Peru from 1200 to 1527 AD established a peculiar procedure for recording births, deaths, and other events under public authorities' responsibility

This culture was the first in the Americas to record vital events, knowing the exact quantity, age, and sex of inhabitants in different provinces

Incas used interlaced colored strings and knots known as quipus to record facts, but this system was interrupted by the arrival of the Spaniards in 1531

The Church, recognizing statistics' importance post-Council of Trent, mandated the record of births, marriages, and deaths

Birth and death registration began in England in the 16th century

In 1662, a notable population study appeared: "Observations on the London Bills of Mortality"

Gaspar Neumann, a German professor in Breslau, first used statistical data for non-political purposes in 1691

He disproved popular beliefs about higher mortality in years ending with seven by reviewing thousands of death records and demonstrating no excess deathsoccurred in those years

Neumann’s procedures were known by English astronomer Halley, who discovered Halley's Comet

Halley applied the procedures to the study of human life, providing a basis for mortality tables used by insurance companies today

The 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries saw great operations in scientific methods by figures like Leonardo de Vinci, Nicolás Copérnico, Galileo, Neper, William Harvey, Sir Francis Bacon, and René Descartes

This meant when national states were created and international commerce surged, a method for applying to economic data existed

In 1662, Captain John Graunt used thirty years' worth of documents to make predictions about the number of probable deaths for various diseases, as well as the likely proportion of male and female births

Graunt's work, condensed in his Natural and Political Observations...Made upon the Bills of Mortality, was an innovative effort in statistical analysis

Around 1540, German Sebastián Muster compiled statistical data on national resources, including political organization, social instructions, commerce, and military power

During the 17th century, more concrete indications of quantitative observation and analysis emerged, expanding the fields of inference and statistical theory

XVII century scholars showed special interest in Demographic Statistics, due to speculation on whether the population was increasing, decreasing, or remaining static

During the 17th and early 18th centuries, mathematicians like Bernoulli, Francis Maseres, Lagrange, and Laplace developed the theory of probabilities

Its application was limited to games of chance until the 18th century when it began to apply to major scientific problems

Jacques Quételect applied Statistics to the social sciences, being the first to make a practical appliance of the statistical method

From 1800 to 1820, two fundamental mathematical concepts were developed for statistical theory

• Theory of Errors of observation by Laplace and Gauss
• The theory of Least Squares by Laplace, Gauss, and Legendre

Nowadays, statistics has become an effective method for accurately describing economic, political, social, psychological, biological, and physical data values

It is a tool for relating and analyzing these data

An expert statistician not only gathers and tabulates data, but now focuses on interpreting that information

The development of probability theory has expanded the scope of statistical applications

Probability is useful for checking the reliability of statistical inferences and predicting the type and amount of data needed in a given statistical study

Stages of statistics include:

• Censuses
• From Description of Sets to Political Arithmetic
• Statistics and Probability Calculation

The development of computing transformed the progress and teaching of Statistics

English scientists especially developed mathematical methods for Statistics but manipulated real figures for half a century without proper calculation tools

The arrival of computers revolutionized the development of Statistics

In France (Benzécri) and in the United States (Tuckey), pioneers reconceived Statistics according to computers

They improved, adapted, and created new instruments to study large volumes of data, like new techniques and graphic tools