The Probable Error of a Mean

Details

Photo

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Name

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Authors

William S. Gosset

Year

1908

Field

Statistics

Why it stuck

The origin story of the t-test and the pen name “Student” — like finding out your favorite role player was secretly an MVP-level brewer-statistician.

My take

Any time someone in the office brags about a p-value, I silently thank a guy who just wanted better beer; also, wild that a 1908 paper still gets more usage than most modern dashboards.