Some examples of statistical computing in France during the 19th century

Abstract

Statistical computing emerged as a recognised topic in the seventies. Remember the first COMPSTAT symposium held in Vienna (1974)! But the need for proper computations in statistics arose much earlier. Indeed, the contributions by Laplace (1749-1829) and Legendre (1752-1833) to statistical estimation in linear models are well known. But further works of computational interest originated in the structuring of the concept of regression during the 19th century. While some were fully innovative, some appear now unsuccessful but nevertheless informative. The paper discusses, from a French perspective, the computational aspects of selected examples. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.