Friday, April 16, 2004
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM
Constant Hall Room 1005

Title: "Statistics: The Science, Technology and Art of Creating New Knowledge"

Professor C. R. Rao
Department of Statistics
Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

R. A. Fisher in his presidential address to the Royal Statistical Society said: "Statistical science is the peculiar aspect of human progress which gave to the 20th century its peculiar character, ... it is to the statistician that the present age turns for what is most essential in all its more important activities." As we enter into the 21st century, we are faced with new problems and new prospects for the use of statistics in solving them. The scope of statistics as it is understood, studied and practiced today extends to the whole gamut of natural and social sciences, engineering and technology, management and economic affairs, and arts and literature. A logical approach to solving problems in these areas is the collection of data and extraction of information from data to provide knowledge for taking an optimal decision in a given situation, and to pose new problems for further investigation and expansion of knowledge. Some examples will be given of the use of statistics as science, technology and art of creating new knowledge: Who wrote the poem discovered in a library without any record of its authorship, Shakespeare or a contemporary poet? Is the second born child more intelligent that the firstborn? Who wrote the ancient Indian text Arthasastra? Is the expression of a gene in a normal person and cancer patient the same? Are the goods produced by a machine according to specification?