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Book
Author Desrosières, Alain.

Title The politics of large numbers : a history of statistical reasoning / Alain Desrosières ; translated by Camille Naish
Published Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Harvard University Press, 1998

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  519.509 Des/Pol  AVAILABLE
Description 368 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Contents Introduction: Arguing from Social Facts -- 1. Prefects and Geometers -- 2. Judges and Astronomers -- 3. Averages and the Realism of Aggregates -- 4. Correlation and the Realism of Causes -- 5. Statistics and the State: France and Great Britain -- 6. Statistics and the State: Germany and the United States -- 7. The Part for the Whole: Monographs or Representative Samplings -- 8. Classifying and Encoding -- 9. Modeling and Adjusting -- Conclusion: Disputing the Indisputable
Summary 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references pages 343-357 and index
Notes Translated from the French
Subject Statistical services -- History.
Statistics -- History.
LC no. 98003199
ISBN 0674689321
Other Titles Politique des grands nombres. English