Descriptive statistical methods for historians.

Knowledge of basic statistical techniques is essential for anyone who wants to fully grasp the scope of certain quantitative historical analyses. Their practice has been introduced into the curricula of most undergraduate university programs. It is expected to play an increasing role in master's programs and in recruitment exams.

This book meets these needs. It essentially covers the field of descriptive statistics, incidentally the probabilistic aspects, and seeks to account for the instruments actually used by historians: statistical distributions, representation of historical quantities, percentages, proportions, deflation, indices and semi-logarithmic graphs, etc.

The theoretical mathematical dimension has been reduced in favor of the practical aspect, with particular developments devoted to calculation procedures on statistical calculators. If the techniques for processing very numerous data, such as multivariate analysis, could not be addressed, historical work on computers cannot be conceived without a clear notion of the meaning of the statistical instruments offered by the software, which is given here.

Thus designed, based on numerous examples and corrected exercises, this book will serve as a guide for historians and all those who have to handle simple quantitative data.