Related articles
Edit |
Discuss Article
StatisticsStatistics is the science and practice of developing human knowledge through the use of empirical data. It is based soundly on statistical theory which is a branch of applied mathematics. Within statistical theory, randomness and uncertainty are modelled by probability theory. Statistical practice includes the planning, summarizing, and interpreting of uncertain observations. Because the aim of statistics is to produce the "best" information from available data, some authors make statistics a branch of decision theory.
Origin
The word statistics comes from the modern Latin phrase statisticum collegium (lecture about state affairs), from which came the Italian word statista, which means "statesman" or "politician" (compare to status) and the German Statistik, originally designating the analysis of data about the state. It acquired the meaning of the collection and classification of data generally in the early nineteenth century. The collection of data about states and localities continues, largely through national and international statistical services; in particular, censuses provide regular information about the population.
Statistical methods
We describe our knowledge (and ignorance) mathematically and attempt to learn more from whatever we can observe. This requires us to
- plan our observations to control their variability (experiment design),
- summarize a collection of observations to feature their commonality by suppressing details (descriptive statistics), and
- reach consensus about what the observations tell us about the world we observe (statistical inference).
In some forms of descriptive statistics, notably data mining, the second and third of these steps become so prominent that the first step (planning) appears to become less important. In these disciplines, data often are collected outside the control of the person doing the analysis, and the result of the analysis may be more an operational model than a consensus report about the world.
Probability
The probability of an event is often defined as a number between one and zero. In reality however there is virtually nothing that has a probability of 1 or 0. You could say that the sun will certainly rise in the morning, but what if an extremely unlikely event destroys the sun? What if there is a nuclear war and the sky is covered in ash and smoke?
We often round the probability of such things up or down because they are so likely or unlikely to occur, that it's easier to recognise them as a probability of one or zero.
However, this can often lead to misunderstandings and dangerous behaviour, because people are unable to distinguish between, e.g., a probability of 10-4 and a probability of 10-9, despite the very practical difference between them. If you expect to cross the road about 105 or 106 times in your life, then reducing your risk of being run over per road crossing to 10-9 will make you safe for your whole life, while a risk per road crossing of 10-4 will make it very likely that you will have an accident, despite the intuitive feeling that 0.01% is a very small risk.
Use of prior probabilities of 0 (or 1) causes problems in Bayesian statistics, since the posterior distribution is then forced to be 0 (or 1) as well. In other words, the data is not taken into account at all! As Lindley puts it, if a coherent Bayesian attaches a prior probability of zero to the hypothesis that the Moon is made of green cheese, then even whole armies of astronauts coming back bearing green cheese cannot convince him. Lindley advocates never using prior probabilities of 0 or 1. He calls it Cromwell's Rule, from a letter Oliver Cromwell wrote to the synod of the Church of Scotland on August 5th, 1650 in which he said "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, consider it possible that you are mistaken."
Specialized disciplines
Some sciences use applied statistics so extensively that they have specialized terminology. These disciplines include:
Statistics form a key basis tool in business and manufacturing as well. It is used to understand measurement systems variability, control processes (as in statistical process control or SPC), for summarizing data, and to make data-driven decisions. In these roles it is a key tool, and perhaps the only reliable tool.
See also
Lindley, D. Making Decisions. John Wiley. Second Edition 1985.
External links
Source | Copyright
|
 |
 |
|
Webmasters: Add your website here:
Readers: Edit |
Discuss Listings
RSSSF - The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
RSSSF's major goal is collecting all kind of statistics, in particular league tables from all over the world, on football, and making this information available to those sharing the same interest.
http://www.rsssf.com
International Football 1872-Present
Results indexed by major and minor championships. Includes latest updates, sitemap, calendar, rumours, ELO ratings, links, and contact details.
http://www.rdasilva.demon.co.uk/football.html
The Elephant Rankings
World Football rankings based on results in major competitions since 1949. Includes results, ratings and forecasts.
http://www.elerankings.com
Soccer Statistics in Java for Major European Leagues
Interactive soccer statistics (java-applet) with charts, graphics, tables, votes and logos of German Bundesliga, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Division and other European leagues. The statistics are available from the 1996/1997 season to the present.
http://www.fussballstatistiken.de/
Football Figures
Features statistics for all English and Scottish leagues and teams.
http://www.footballfigures.co.uk
Soccer Analyzer
Rankings, analysis and results plus information about championships from Italy, Spain and England.
http://pronosport.coolfreepages.com/
Soccerbot Active League Tables
The Active Tables show the full statistics behind the tables. Tables for over 35 countries.
http://www.soccerbot.com
European Football Clubs and Squads
Squads, logos, links and general information on more than 600 European football clubs. [German and English]
http://www.eufo.de
Maxim Olenev's Soccer
All time goalscorers from all countries, all tables, past famous goalscorers, and databases with more than 1000 players.
http://www.geocities.com/maximolenev/index.htm
Histora.org : The World Football Historian
Comprehensive searchable archive of worldwide tournament and league results dating back as far as 1889.
http://www.histora.org/
myVTeam Soccer Sensei
Historical facts, and statistical engine.
http://www.myvteam.com/
Centre Sport Statistics
Includes national teams, World Cup finals 1930-1998 and NHL 1918-2000.
http://yushkin-site.narod.ru/
TeamStats
A free service for amateur teams. Statistics generated relate to the team and its individual players, allowing a detailed record to be kept of the season.
http://www.teamstats.co.uk/
Football Results
Results, tables and statistics for over 60 leagues worldwide. Updated daily.
http://footballresults.czweb.org/
FutbolPlanet.de
Statistics and results played by national teams around the World from 1872 to the present. Includes upcoming games, tournaments, and news.
http://www.futbolplanet.de/
Infosoccer
Offers scores, fixtures, and match analysis from major European Leagues and competitions. Also provides retrospective analysis using past seasons data.
http://www.matchstat.com/indexe.phtml
Free Football Spreadsheets
Offers free spreadsheets for Euro 2004, World Cup, Premiership, Serie A, and the European Champions League.
http://www.michaelwray.co.nz/
Liveresults.net
Provides live scores and results for all the major European leagues.
http://www.liveresults.net/
Andy's Stats
Tables, players, teams and referee statistics for the English Premier and Football League clubs.
http://www.andysstats.co.uk/
Thailand Soccer Statistics
Features statistics on the major clubs and divisions in Thailand.
http://chattirak.freeyellow.com/info.html
Footballers in World
Includes player transfers and profiles, and the history of cups and leagues.
http://www.geocities.com/shervanfekri//player.html
H2Hstats
Fixtures, results, statistics, and ratings for the top European leagues.
http://www.h2hstats.com/
Football Squads
Provides squad information and transfers for all 92 English League teams and the Scottish Premiership.
http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/
EuroFootsie
Offers European club football rankings.
http://www.eurofootsie.com/
442data World Football Database
An archive of results and statistics from all over the world. Includes histories for all the English leagues and cups.
http://www.442data.co.uk/
mySportsCentre.com
Fixtures, results, and statistics for European leagues and teams.
http://www.mysportscentre.com/
Extra Sports
English and Scottish league tables, and cup results from 1950 to the present.
http://www.extrasports.co.uk
District FC
DC area futbol with current MLS standings.
http://districtfc.com/
FootballTransfers
Club by club transfers, records, speculation, contracts, managers, squads, archives, and links.
http://www.footballtransfers.info/
Men's World Football Combined Rankings
A combined listing of several ranking systems for international men's soccer such as the BCS for American College football.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umwieb63/index.html
SoccerStat
Beyond simple analysis of soccer statistics.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~socstat/
Soccer Database
Database for European football, live scores, and virtual games.
http://www.mackolik.com/
www.soccerbase.com
Internet soccer database.
http://www.soccerbase.com/
Soccer Stats
Fairly thorough update on the latest standings and results from around the world's soccer leagues.
http://www.soccerstats.com
tplSoccerStats
Offers free statistics software for team webmasters.
http://www.tpl-design.com/tplsoccerstats/
FootballLook
Complete information and results resource, for every UK football club. Links to major news resources, free e-mail alerts and a full WAP service.
http://uk.football.digitallook.com/
Association of Football Statisticians
Information, history and statistics about UK football. In-depth and professional analysis and discussion about football.
http://www.11v11.co.uk/
NCAA Men's Soccer Statistics
Official site of NCAA men's soccer statistics.
http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_soccer/index.html
NCAA Women's Soccer Statistics
Official site for NCAA women's soccer statistics.
http://www.ncaa.org/stats/w_soccer/index.html
SoccerAssociation.com
Features transfers, players, results, fixtures and tables from all the major world leagues.
http://www.soccerassociation.com
The English Football Archive
A complete statistic service for all aspects of English Football.
http://www.the-english-football-archive.com/
Soccer-stats.com
Includes the Premiership, The Football League and the Scottish Premier plus attendances, top scorers, results and player details.
http://www.soccer-stats.com
Italian Soccer Statistics
Includes Serie A results, tables and top scorers.
http://www.calcio.dp.ua/
DutchLeague
Players, statistics, results, photographs, table, cup, and news.
http://edwardush.tripod.com/dutchleague.html
Kimbro's Study of Soccer Scoring
Mike Kimbro's study of scoring at the college and pro level.
http://hometown.aol.com/KimbroCon1/Figures1.html
40 Year A - Z Player's
Career details for English and Scottish League club players.
http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/
Mabel's Tables
Features UK results and statistics.
http://members.aol.com/mabstabs/soccer.html
footballmundial all the archives
The site contains results of the major tournaments, including the Copa America, FIFA World Cup, Euro Cup, African Nations Cup, Asian Cup, Concacaf Gold Cup and the Oceania Nations Cup.
http://footballmundial.tripod.com
PremierSoccerStats.com
A statistical guide to England's Premiership. Unique data for nearly 2000 players, seasonal summaries by team, and facts from each match.
http://premiersoccerstats.com
Place to Compare Best Soccer Players
Teams and player statistics, news, rules, results, WC ranking, best 11, links, and contact details.
http://www.soccer-players.info/
Analysis of the Spanish Soccer League
The statistics of the Spanish League. Order teams, players, games, all by numerous variables.
http://www.sdifutbol.com
European Football Statistics
UK and European statistics.
http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/
World Football Elo Ratings
Ratings of national football teams, based on the rating system developed by Dr. Arpad Elo and adapted to international football.
http://www.eloratings.net/
ECSports
UEFA Qualification to Korea Japan 2002 with all the scores and all the countries listed.
http://www.ecsports.com/kj2002/uefajs.html
Football Live
Follow all European football-matches live with over 400 direct links with livescores, audiolinks and fixtures.
http://www.footballlive.dk
Playerhistory.com
Worldwide historical soccer stats on players, and soccer statistics on matches
http://www.playerhistory.com
|
