Statistics today
Statistics is neither a science of the past nor a science of the future: it is firmly rooted in the present! The diversity of its applications demonstrates its importance in today's world. A quick overview of current topics will convince you: demographics and pension financing, purchasing power, health and manufacturing of innovative drugs, social networks... There are many challenges that those who study it face today. Among them, that of statistical confidentiality is crucial: how to process sensitive data without it being disclosed? It is still statistics that is behind the advances in artificial intelligence, for example the famous conversational robot Chat-GPT.
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Editorial
Statistics is one of the branches of mathematics with the widest range of applications. It emerged in the 19th century and developed in the early 20th; today, it is more relevant than ever, providing general methods for working with data.
What makes modern statistics distinctive | Tangente
Anne Philippe is a professor at Nantes Université and a statistics researcher at the Jean-Leray laboratory. Since 2021, she has served as president of the French Statistical Society (SFdS).
GPS: Mathematics and positioning | Tangente
By knowing the Sun's altitude above the horizon and the exact time, navigators were able to determine their longitude and latitude.
Extreme values — rare events | Tangente
The human, economic and financial repercussions make it essential to guard against extreme risks—that is, events that are unlikely to occur but have a major impact.
Random sequences—Monte Carlo method | Tangente
Random numbers are used to obtain approximate numerical solutions to problems that may be too difficult to solve exactly (Monte Carlo methods are a typical example).
Statistics: what is it for?
You like mathematics, but it seems too far removed from "real life." Why not take a look at statistics? This discipline has countless direct applications, with many more undoubtedly still to be imagined or discovered!
Individual-level data protection | Tangente
How can millions of individual records be processed and made available to researchers while protecting privacy and commercial confidentiality? This is a challenge the official statistical service faces every day—and one it meets rather convincingly.
ChatGPT and the mathematics of intelligence | Tangente
Who hasn't heard of ChatGPT? The feats of this artificial intelligence have sparked impassioned debate, along with fears and hopes for the future. To understand what it is all about, let's begin by exploring how this gigantic neural network works!
Key statistical terms explained | Tangente
A quick refresher on a few statistical terms to get us started.