Blocking (statistics)
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In the statistical theory of the design of experiments, blocking is the arranging of experimental units that are similar to one another in groups based on one or more variables. These variables are ch
Nuisance variable effect on response variable
Nuisance variable (sex) effect on response variable (weight loss)
No blocking (left) vs blocking (right) experimental design
Without blocking: diet pills vs placebo on weight loss
History of statistics
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Statistics, in the modern sense of the word, began evolving in the 18th century in response to the novel needs of industrializing sovereign states.
Sir William Petty, a 17th-century economist who used early statistical methods to analyse demographic data
Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician who developed the method of least squares in 1809
Karl Pearson, the founder of mathematical statistics
James Lind carried out the first ever clinical trial in 1747, in an effort to find a treatment for scurvy.