Cervantes’s Law of Statistics
By a small sample, we may judge of the whole piece.
Though remembered more as a writer than as a mathematician, it is clear from this line in Don Quixote (1605 1615) that Miguel de Cervantes had a good grasp of statistical principles. Of course, the principles are subject to bending, as noted by Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: lies damned lies and statistics” (as quoted by Mark Twain in his Autobiography 1924).
Cervantes’s knowledge of sampling techniques may have come from his regular employment as a purchasing agent for the Spanish navy - a job that paid so poorly that he was twice thrown into prison for debt.
Discussion of Cervantes’s Law of Statistics
Post your comment here
