Elements of Statistics

Abstract

Is it possible to present the elements of statistics in an intelligible form to students almost devoid of mathematical training? The present volume professes to accomplish this, but it does so, if at all, only by an enormous restriction of the scope and depth of the subject. Mere tabulation and pictorial representation of statistics will not in themselves suffice in general unless accompanied by a searching scrutiny of the data, not merely by applying formulae to them but also in the light of the principles of the theory of error and of correlation. In the present volume, when a formula is required, it is usually either quoted without proof and used for numerical computation or deduced from one already quoted; but surely the results of such a computation can be appreciated only when examined in relation to the basic assumptions made in deducing the formula. Within the narrow limitations the author has imposed upon himself, the treatment is good and the exposition clear. The book is excellently produced.

Elements of Statistics.

Prof.

F. C.

Kent

By. Pp. xi + 178. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.; London: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Ltd., 1924.) 10s. net.