The politics of large numbers
Subtitle: a history of statistical reasoning
By: Alain Desrosières ; translated by Camille Naish.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 368
Subjects: Statistics -- History; Statistical services -- History
Description: In this study of the history of statistics, which begins with probability theory in the seventeenth century, Alain Desrosieres shows how the evolution of modern statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments. He traces the complex reciprocity between modern governments and the mathematical artifacts that both dictate the duties of the state and measure its successes.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-357) and index.