Mathematics for the Study of Frequency Statistics

Abstract

The title of my address is “Mathematics for the Study of Frequency Statistics.”By frequency statistics I mean statistics which give the result of counting. A statement as to the number of teachers receiving annual salaries in excess of a certain amount would come under the head of frequency statistics : a statement as to the total amount paid annually to these teachers would not. The sort of thing that I have mainly in mind is a table giving the numbers of boys of specified heights, the heights being taken to the nearest inch, or the numbers of girls who, having worked a paper with full marks 100, get under 5 marks, 5 and under 10, and so on. I may mention that the word “frequency” is usually applied to the actual number in a specified category; the proportion of this number to the total is called the “relative frequency.”