1) The kings and rulers in the ancient times were interested in their manpower. They conducted census of population to get information about their population. They used information to calculate their strength and ability for wars. In those days statistics was defined as
“the science of kings, political and science of statecraft”
(2) A.L. Bowley defined statistics as
“statistics is the science of counting”
This definition places the entries stress on counting only. A common man also thinks as if statistics is nothing but counting. This used to be the situation but very long time ago. Statistics today is not mere counting of people, counting of animals, counting of trees and counting of fighting force. It has now grown to a rich methods of data analysis and interpretation.
(3) A.L. Bowley has also defined as
“science of averages”