TENOSUSTEOORIA JA STATISTIKA PROBABILITY THEORY AND STATISTICS

HOW TO CONTROL RANDOMNESS?

Kalev Prna
University of Tartu

Probability theory and statistics are two interconnected fields, constituting an

integrated whole. Statistics involve collection, ordering, recording and statistical
analysis of data, as well as presentation of the results. Probability theory is
concerned with studying random phenomena, using mathematical methods.
This article presents a brief look at the history of probability theory, tracing the
development of key concepts and principles and highlighting some important
results. Then we demonstrate statistical applications of probability theory,
explaining the nature of a statistical test and providing popular examples from
everyday life. The reader is not required to have previous knowledge of
probability theory.
Introduction or lets leave something to chance!
Dont leave anything to chance, is something people say when they want to make sure things
get done. It is undoubtedly a commendable principle that has led to great achievements and
implementation of important projects. Indeed, randomness always causes indeterminacy and
uncertainty, complicating the planning process. However, we can never completely free
ourselves from randomness. In fact we do not need to some things can sometimes also be left
to chance. Randomness has its own laws and it can be put to use, especially if we are familiar
with those laws.
The phenomena around us can be grouped in two major categories. The phenomena where,
given a set of conditions, the further progression of a process can only follow one path are called
determined processes. However, there are many processes in nature and society where, with the
same initial conditions, a system can behave in several different ways. Such processes are called
random phenomena. It is firmly determined that the sun will rise every morning, but whether the
sky will be clear or cloudy at that moment depends on chance. Weather, economy and politics
are all very complex phenomena where making even approximate forecasts poses a great
challenge for scientists and experts.
Philosophically, one could ask whether there is anything random at all in the world? Indeed,
according to the principle of total determinism, each subsequent state of the world should be
exactly determined by the preceding state (Leibniz). It is likely that an answer can be found in the
admission that we are unable to describe any state with ideal precision some elements will
inevitably remain unclear. There remains a certain extent of play or freedom, which opens the
door for randomness. Therefore, randomness can, in many respects, be seen as a consequence
of our limited knowledge.
Despite the complex nature of random phenomena, even they are subject to certain regularities
and these are the object of interest for probability theory. In brief, probability theory studies the
a
mathematical models of random phenomena . It should be added in this context that probability
theory only deals with a specific part of random phenomena the one with some statistical
stability, i.e., where trials can be repeated under the same conditions for an unlimited number of
times. We can toss the same coin or select a random sample from the same total population as
many times as we like. Statistical stability enables measuring the likelihood of random events in
numerical terms, through probability. There are several complex phenomena without such
stability. For instance, weather forecasts based on historical data are very problematic because
a

In a slightly more popular formulation, probability theory studies how the probabilities of simple events can be used to
determine the probabilities of more complex events.

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TENOSUSTEOORIA JA STATISTIKA PROBABILITY THEORY AND STATISTICS

of the highly chaotic nature of weather even a slight variation in the current state of weather can
grow into a huge difference within a week. Consequently, weather modelling is usually based on
other methods. Nevertheless, probability theory has an extremely wide and varied field of
applications, from natural sciences (physics, biology, genetics), medicine (pharmaceutical trials)
and economy (study of financial markets, insurance) to social sciences and humanities
(demographics, linguistics, etc.).

Diligence is the mother of good luck the history of probability theory

It is believed that the origins of probability theory are linked with gambling. The first book on
games of chance, Liber de Ludo Aleae (published in 1663), was written by Girolamo Cardano
(15011576) who, together with Niccol Tartaglia (15061559), also made a contribution to the
development of combinatorics. This subject matter was also interesting for Galileo Galilei
(15641642) who, among other things, explained why the sum of ten is more common than nine
when rolling three dice. Further development of the theory was boosted by the correspondence
between Blaise Pascal (16231622) and Pierre de Fermat (16011665), in which they answered
the questions raised by renowned gambler Chevialier de Mr. For instance, the latter assumed
that getting at least one 6 when rolling four dice is as probable than getting a double-six (6+6)
when rolling two dice 24 times. At the same time he saw that this assumption did not hold true in
practice. His second problem concerned the division of the stakes in an interrupted game.
Suppose that two players flip a coin and agree that the first to get five tails wins the entire stake.
Then the game is interrupted for some reason (e.g., with the score at 3:1) and the question is,
how should the players divide the stake?
The first book on probability theory as a separate research subject (Van Rekeningh in Spelen
van Geluck, 1656) was written by Christian Huygens (16291695), who also discussed the stake
division task (independently from the previous authors). As a side note, it could be mentioned that
another research field associated with random phenomena, namely population research and
related life insurance studies, emerged roughly at the same time period. The insurance studies
are based on mortality tables, which were fist successfully produced by Edmund Halley (1656
1742) who is better known as an astronomer.
Jakob Bernoulli (16561705) was the author of the first fundamental treatise on probability
theory; his Ars Conjectandi (The Art of Conjecturing) appeared in 1713. Bernouilli is credited
for proposing the classical definition of probability: the probability of an event is the number of
a
favourable outcomes in a trial divided by the number of all possible outcomes . The books also
included a binomial distribution equation and a proof of the law of large numbers, which links the
probability of an outcome with the relative frequency of that outcome in a long series of trials.
Abraham de Moivres (16671754) The Doctrine of Chances was the first textbook on
probability theory, in which the author developed a formula for calculating the approximate
probability of the binomial distribution and, in effect, derived the normal distribution and the
central limit theorem. The latter is one of the most important and brilliant results of probability
theory, stating that a sufficiently large number of random variables will be approximately normally
distributed. The first proof of the central limit theorem was provided by Pierre-Simon Laplace
(17491827) in 1810. Another French mathematician, Simon Poisson (17811840), is
recognised for discovering the law of small numbers, or Poisson distribution, and utilising it to
describe the probability of rare events (1838).
Andrei Kolmogorov (19031987) reviewed the 300 years of development of the theory of
probability in his book Grundbegriffe der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung (Foundations of the

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The classical probability formula is

, where N is the total number of possible trial outcomes and NA is the number
of favourable outcomes for event A. In order to use this formula, all instances of N should be equally likely.

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Theory of Probability, 1933), integrating the concepts of probability theory with a general
measure theory. The axiomatic definition of probabilitya proposed in this book is still widely used.
However, we should also mention some alternative concepts of probability. The conceiver of one
of those, Richard von Mises (18831953) attempted to define probability as the limiting value of
relative frequencies in a process with an infinite sequence of trials. There is also the thought
school of subjective probability (Leonard Savage, Bruno de Finetti), viewing probability as
something dependent on the subjects previous knowledge like Thomas Bayes (17021761).
In conclusion, we could highlight three major stages in the development of probability theory. The
first brought forth the idea that predictions of future events are possible, with a certain degree of
accuracy, even in case of random phenomena. The second important period was the beginning
of the 19th century, with the establishment of links with statistics and the start of a clearly defined
scientific discipline with unlimited applications and opportunities. Its strict mathematical form was
given to the theory of probability in the thirties of the previous century.

Probability and statistics a potent tandem

Probability theory and statistics have a point of contact whenever there is randomness in data,
e.g., when data constitute a random sample from a total population. This enables to use the rules
of probability theory for assessment of the likelihood of a certain statement or hypothesis. At the
same time, probability theory is not used in the so-called descriptive statistics, dealing with the
presentation of data in the form of summary tables and charts. Indeed, probability theory and
statistics are closely connected but there is a certain polarity in their respective tasks. Briefly put,
probability theory examines the probability of a certain outcome under given conditions (i.e.,
which data could possibly be created). Statistics, however, has an opposite task: it starts from a
certain set of data, or survey results, and has to draw conclusions about the origin mechanism of
that data. In figurative terms, probability theory assumes something like a machinery of
randomness and we are interested in the possible consequences, traces of the operation of that
machinery. In statistics, conversely, we first see those traces (data) and then try to guess the
nature of the machinery that created them. For instance, in a sample survey the sample
constitutes the traces, the total population of the sample constitutes the machinery and a
statisticians task is to estimate the properties of the total population based on the sample.
Understandably, figuring out the mechanism of randomness becomes easier with increased
knowledge of such mechanisms (probability theory). The close connection between those two
fields is also apparent in the examples below.

Randomness is useful even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while

The saying even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while is a popular expression of a
probabilistic mindset. The wisdom of this proverb is that there is never reason for excessive
pessimism everything can never go wrong and something must always go right. This idea is
easy to formulate in the language of probability theory. If the probability of each individual event is
, then the probability of at least one of these events
, ,,
occurring can be
calculated with the formulab:

For example, if you have 400 acquaintances in a large city, meaning that you could be
acquainted with a random passer-by with the probability of 400400000 0.001, then the
a

Probability is expressed as the number P(A), showing the likelihood of event A, with a value between 0 and 1 and 1 in case
of a certain event. If events , , are mutually exclusive (i.e., they can occur only one at a time), then the probability of
one of them occurring is equal to the sum of individual probabilities:
.

b
We can explain the principles of this formula. Firstly, it uses the formula for calculating the probability of the opposite event
, where means non-occurrence of event (opposite event). Secondly, it uses the principle of
1
independence of events, enabling to multiply the probabilities of individual events to calculate the probability of them
occurring together:

. In our example, 1
is the probability of not occurring, while 1
is the
occurs.
probability that none of the events , ,

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probability of somebody recognising you during a half-hour walk is

1
1 0.001
0.63. (Assuming that you would see 1,000 people in half an hour, which can be quite realistic in
a city centre.)
While restricting excessive pessimism, probability theory also cautions us against excessive
optimism (the other side of the coin). In the same way as everything cannot go wrong at once, it
would be unrealistic to expect complete success in everything. This principle is used, for
instance, by airlines when they allow overbooking their flights, hoping that some passengers will
not show up for various reasons. In this calculation, we can use the law of small numbers or the
a
Poisson distribution formula . If it is known that those who fail to check in constitute 1% of all air
passengers, then an average of 3.5 persons would miss a 350-seat plane and the probability of a
seat becoming free can be calculated with the Poisson formula:

1

1
,
0.97 (Figure 1, p. 9). Consequently, it is virtually certain that the airline can overbook one
seat. But would it be possible to overbook two seats? We can find this out by calculating:
,

2

1
3.5 ,
0.86. We can see that this is also a very
probable situation but not with as high degree of confidence as with one seat. The airline now has
to consider possible compensation for the passenger who is unable to board the plane due to
overbooking. Depending on the amount allocated for compensation, the airline can determine the
maximum number of seats that can be overbooked.

How many of us are psychics?

Imagine yourself in a company of 30 people. One of them rolls a dice and the others try to guess
the outcome. The mean number of correct guesses in such a case is five, sometimes more and
sometimes less. Are those who guess correctly psychics? It is very unlikely, because every sixth
person will guess the correct outcome, even if all their guesses are completely random. However,
what if somebody guesses the correct number at the next attempt as well? The probability of
guessing the correct outcome twice in a row is 1/36, meaning that, on average, one person in the
group could do it. Consequently, even this is not a proof in a group of that size. We should be a
little surprised if somebody in the group correctly guesses the results of four dice rolls in a row.
Namely, the probability of this is only 2.3% and it can be calculated with the same formula we
used before:

. However, even events of such low probability often occur in the

world. Where it gets exciting is when somebody would make the correct guess in five consecutive
attempts. In a group of this size, the probability of that happening would be only 0.4%. A sceptic
could now start suspecting a crooked arrangement between the roller and the guesser. For a
believer in esotericism, this would be another proof of existence of extrasensory perception. (The
reader can probably guess the preference of the author in this matter.)

An advanced course in psychic powers

Let us use a different example to develop a similar line or reasoning. In a popular TV show, the
participants (allegedly with psychic powers) are shown 5 men and 5 women and have to tell who
is married to whom. In other words, the task is to identify five married couples. This assignment
could also be formulated as follows: the women are numbered as 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and each man
should be assigned the number of his wife. The best result in the TV show was three correctly
guessed couples. Is this a case of psychic powers? Or can this be explained simply by luck? We
try to find an answer through probability theory by calculating the probability of correctly
identifying three couples if the couples were established in a random manner. The line of
reasoning would be as follows. First, we determine all the possibilities for numbering the five
men. The first man would have five possible numbers, the second would be left with four, the
a

The Poisson formula

shows the probability of exactly

Consequently, the probability of none of the events occurring is

is
1
1
. Recall that
2.71.

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events occurring if the mean number of events is .

and the probability of at least 1 event occurring

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third with three and so on until the last man who would get the only remaining number
consequently, the amount of potential numbering variantsa would be 5 4 3 2 1 120. Now we
can count the number of correct pairs in each numbering variant (permutation). For instance, in
the sequence 1 3 2 4 5, three numbers, namely 1, 4 and 5, are in correct places, while the
numbers 2 and 3 and in wrong positions in the sequence. If we examine all 120 possible
sequences in this manner, we can find the probability distribution of correct numbers, as shown in
Table 1, p. 10.
Now we know what could happen and the probability of each outcome. We can see that even five
pairs could be guessed correctly by chance, but this would happen very rarely only in one
instance of 120. However, identifying three correct pairs is relatively simple, as it would occur, on
average, once in 12 attempts. In fact, the probability of this is much higher if we consider that
there was a whole bunch of participating psychics in the show. Assuming that there was eight,
then the probability of one of them hitting three (or more) correct pairs is rather high. The
reasoning would be as follows. First, the probability of a single psychic getting a score under
three (i.e., 0, 1 or 2 correct pairs) can be found from the table as the sum of three first
probabilities: 109/120=0.908. Then the probability of all of them getting a score under three would
8
be 0.908 =0.463. Finally, the probability of at least one psychic correctly identifying three or more
pairs is as high as 1 0.463 0.537 53.7% (!). This probability is indeed rather high and we
can confidently conclude that correctly guessing three pairs would be quite a usual outcome even
if all participants would pair the men and women completely randomly, without any additional
considerations.
Now we could ask, would our scepticism have been dispelled by a perfect score, i.e., correctly
guessing all five pairs? It is not difficult to calculate the probability of a perfect score in case of
6.5%. For a sceptic, even this is not
eight psychics and random pairing:
1
1 1/120
a sufficiently low probability value and, consequently, even a complete success could not be
taken as a proof of psychic powers. We can see that such an experiment cannot actually prove
anything the number of pairs is simply too low for that. In this case, the experiment should be
repeated with a larger number of pairs, for instance, six, seven or more. Naturally, we could now
ask, would perfect identification of six pairs, for instance, convince our sceptic. We can again
calculate the respective probability in case of random pairing. With six pairs, this probability is
1.1%. Now this is a rather small number and if somebody got six correct
1
1 1/720
results, there would be little doubt that his person is really good at identifying pairs. Especially if
we consider that pairing is made easier by visible compatibility of certain external indicators (such
as age or height).

Lady tasting tea

Our onetime English lecturer, Johannes Silvet, better known as the author of English-Estonian
dictionaries (this author had the honour of visiting his linguistics classes during postgraduate
studies), once recalled his traineeship in England and mentioned that he had only heard two
words he did not know: mif and mil. The first is an abbreviation for milk in first and the second
for milk in last. This refers to the order in which tea and milk are poured into the cup, which is an
important matter for the English.
The words mif and mil are associated with a classic statistical experiment, providing a good
illustration of the nature of a statistical test. The following experiment was described in his famous
book Theory of Statistical Experiments by English scientist Ronald A. Fisher, one of the
founders of statistics. Namely, one of Fishers female colleagues claimed to be able to tell the
difference between mil and mif. To test this claim, Fisher proposed the following (randomised)
experiment. They prepared 8 cups of tea, 4 by mil and 4 by mif, which were given to the lady in a
random order, and she had to divide the cups in two groups based on the method of preparation.
It turned out that the lady divided all the cups correctly! Was it a proof of her claimed abilities? It
a

Different numbering or sequence variants are called permutations.

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is theoretically possible to achieve a perfect result simply by chance. The question is, how
probable such an outcome would be? For instance, with two cups (1 mil and 1 mif), the
probability of getting the correct result by chance is , which means that even half of bluffers
would pass this test. What then is the probability of randomly getting the correct result with eight
cups? We can make some simple calculations. Assume that the lady is bluffing and divides the
eight cups in two groups on a completely random basis. There are, in total, 70 different
possibilities for dividing 8 cups in two equal groups. Indeed, this can be found as the number of
combinations of 8 taken 4 at a time:
8!
4! 4!

87654321
43214321

70

As only one of such combinations represents the perfect result, the probability of getting the
correct division simply by chance is:

0.014

1.4% .

We can see that this is quite a low probability. This probability should be compared with a certain
critical level, which is often placed at 5% (this boundary depends on the importance of the
problem or the price of an incorrect choice). Now that the calculated probability is under the
critical probability level, a mathematical statistician can draw a carefully weighed conclusion: as
the probability of getting the correct result simply by chance is very low (less than 5%), there is no
reason to believe that the lady is bluffing it is likely that she is indeed able to tell the difference
between mil and mif.
In this context, the reader might see certain similarities with a court trial based on the
presumption of innocence a person is considered innocent until there is convincing proof to the
contrary. Similarly, in statistics a hypothesis (in our example, the claimed skill to differentiate
between two methods of tea preparation) is considered proven only if it is supported by sufficient
data.
What could be the probability of incorrect conviction? Is there a specific critical boundary that
should not be crossed? We can call it permissible probability of category one error. It seems that
no such exact boundary exists; rather, it depends on particular problems. Our preceding
examples have been of a relatively entertaining variety where the price of an incorrect decision is
not particularly high. Therefore, we have permitted the boundary of category one error to be as
high as 5%. The same does not apply to decisions in the world of medicine and justice. Indeed,
there is a proverb saying that

If money is lost nothing is lost, if health is lost something is lost, if

honour is lost everything is lost
The recent case of doping with our skier belongs to this category. It is known that at least some
doping tests are designed with the aim of reducing the probability of false positive results to less
than 0.01%. Such a test is very conservative, meaning that only one person in 10,000 is
incorrectly found guilty of doping use. However, compared with previous examples, a doping test
is significantly complicated by the fact that it is not nearly as easy to determine the probability of a
false positive result. It is no longer possible to use simple arguments in which all outcomes are
equally possible, like in classical probability used in our previous examples. In such cases, the
main argument is based on actual test data, collected from tests with real people. Any
assessments of the required level of probability should be based on such data. The aim is to
identify the exact value of a positive test result boundary, which would be crossed only by 0.01%
of clean athletes. At the same time, the testing organisation should be able to provide a scientific
justification for the proposed boundary value. Understandably, satisfactory assessment of such
low probabilities requires a large amount of test data. This is clearly not an easy task and we can
see why an international organisation, specialising in development of doping tests, did not
manage to succeed in this precise area in the recent case. At the same time, it was a significant

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feat of labour on the part of Estonian statisticians. There is no need to add that most of our
arguments belonged to the field of probability theorya.

Never put all your eggs in one basket

This is a famous principle, known to every investor. Instead of investing all your money in one
share, it is wiser to buy a number of different shares. Why is this the case? We can demonstrate,
using the concepts of probability theory, why diversification of investment is a more
advantageous strategy. We take the popular example of an egg basket, but the reader can
replace the eggs with a certain amount of money, e.g., 1,000 euros. Assume that we need to
transport five eggs. Strategy A requires all five eggs to be put in one basket, while strategy B
requires each egg to be put in a separate basket. Assume that the probability of a basket being
capsized is 0.4 and all such instances of tipping over are independent from one another. Which
strategy results in more eggs arriving at their destination? The reader might be surprised to learn
that the mean number of eggs arriving is the same in both cases. Indeed, if X is the number of
eggs that reach the destination, then in strategy A there are two possible values, 5 and 0, with the
5 0.6 0 0.4 3. In case of strategy B, X can be expressed as the
mean value being
sum

, where each
is either 1 or 0, depending on whether egg arrived at
its destination or not. A marvellous property of the mean value is that the mean of a sum equals

. As each individual mean

the sum of individual means, which is why
being calculated as
1 0.6 0 0.4 0.6, the result is
5 0.6 3 or the same as in
strategy A. Why then should we prefer strategy B (if at all)? The answer can be found only after
b
5 3
also looking at the dispersion of the arriving eggs. In case of strategy A, it is
0.6
0 3 0.4 6. However, in case of strategy B, because each basket is independent, we

, where each individual

have to use a formula for adding dispersions:
dispersion is
1 0.6 0.6
0 0.6 0.4 0.24. The result would be
5 0.24
1.2. We can see that the dispersion of if is five times lower with strategy B. This means less
indeterminacy and uncertainty. Indeed, if in the first case only 5 or 0 eggs can reach their
destination (all or nothing), all outcomes in between (1-4) are also possible in the second case,
making the situation much more tolerable. For instance, we can now claim that at least one egg
0.99, which can sometimes be quite
will reach its destination with the probability of 1 0.4
sufficient. The main risk with strategy A is that everything can be lost, with a frighteningly high
probability of 0.4 (Figures 2, 3, p. 13).
Those who put their eggs in different baskets can sleep peacefully in the hope of at least some
success. However, taking a risk (using strategy A) can sometimes also be necessary or
inevitable. Assume, for instance, that the due date for your loan repayment is approaching and a
late payment would mean a disaster. Your only solution could be the option of all five eggs and
you would be forced to take a risk, because the probability of the outcome all is much higher in
0.078 with strategy B). We all are occasionally
this case (even 0.6 while it would only be 0.6
faced with such decisions. For instance, should we fill out all five Viking Lotto tickets with the
same or different numbers it depends on the need to take a risk. By filling out five tickets with
the same numbers we reduce the probability of a win by a factor of five, but the gain would also
be five times higher if we are lucky.

More information can be found in an article by Krista Fischer, Mtmise dilemmad et stut ei kuulutataks kurjategijaks,
et haigused ei jks avastamata (Dilemmas of measurement How to ensure that innocents are not declared guilty and
diseases are not left undiagnosed) Postimees, 6 April 2013.
b
The dispersion of random variable is the number
, i.e., the mean quadratic deviation from the mean
value. Dispersion describes the variance of individual values of a random variable around its mean value
. The

, where is the
dispersion of a discrete random variable can be calculated with the formula
.
probability of value . If and are independent, then the dispersions are added up:

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Limit theorems of probability theory or like father, like son

Why is human height distribution so close to the normal distribution? Why is the birth ratio of boys
versus girls almost the same in every year, even though the sex of a particular child is completely
random and unpredictable?
These and other similar questions can be answered by classical results of probability theory the
law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. In both instances, we are dealing with a sum
of a large number of random values. It turns out that an infinite increase in the number of
addends results in certain limit values. Knowing them helps us to solve many important problems,
including in statistics.
The law of large numbers states that if sample size

/ converges to the population mean .

increases, the sample mean

This claim is particularly interesting in case of sampling with replacement, because it would be
trivial in case of sampling without replacement. For instance, if a student were to forget (!) the
formula of the mean (expected value), he or she could use a statistical method for finding the
mean value of multiple rolls of dice by making 100 dice rolls and calculating the arithmetic mean

/ of the results. The student can then be confident that the calculation

produces a value close to the actual mean value m (which would be 3.5 in this case).
The next natural question, how close is the calculated arithmetic mean to the mean value m is
answered by another theorem the central limit theorem. We can formulate it here only in an
approximate wording (as a rule of thumb), which should still convey the essence of this important
theorem:
If the value of a random variable is determined by many independent factors in such a manner
that their impacts combine and the impact of each individual factor is negligible compared to the
combined impact of all factors, is likely to have the normal or Gaussian distribution.
The normal distribution of peoples height (for instance, the height of adult men), referred to at the
start of this section, is a good example of how this rule can be applied. Clearly, height
is
determined by a number of factors, including genetics, the environment, nutrition, physical
activity, etc. Genetic factors can be further broken down into many individual factors. The final
distribution of
can be described very well with the normal distribution.
In conclusion, we can see that probability theory and statistics complement each other, creating a
powerful tandem. The needs of statistics have often stimulated developments of probability
theory, while probability theory provides statistics with the methods for solving its problems.

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