The language of the English biometric school. (English) Zbl 1114.62301

Aldrich, John

Int. Stat. Rev. 71, No. 1, 109-129 (2003).

This paper considers the language devised by Karl Pearson and his associates for discussing distributions, populations and samples, the basic language for frequentist inference. The original language – some of which is still in use – is described and also the changes it underwent under the influence of R.A. Fisher and of Russian and American mathematicians. The period covered is roughly 1890–1950.

MSC:

62-03	History of statistics
01A60	History of mathematics in the 20th century
62A01	Foundations and philosophical topics in statistics

Keywords:

Statistical notation; Karl Pearson; R.A. Fisher.

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