THE LADY TASTING, ga How STATISTICS REVOLUTIONIZED SCI DAVID SALSBUR “Entertaining .. . The pleasures of the book emerge easily... and the end result is both educational and fun.’—Nature MedicineTHE LADY TASTING TEA HOW STATISTICS REVOLUTIONIZED SCIENCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY DAVID SALSBURG AW. H. Freeman / Owl Book Henty Holt and Company New York8 Henry Holt and Company, LLC Publishers since 1866 115 West 18th Street New York, New York 10011 Henry Holt® isa registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC Copyright © 2001 by W. H. Freeman and Compa All rights reserved. Distributed in ada by H. B. Fenn and Company Lid, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Salsburg, David, 1931 ‘The lady tasting tea; how statistics revolutionized science in the twentieth century / by David Salsburg, p. cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8050-7134-2 (pbk) nce— Statistical methods — Histor 45 2001 1904 —de21 0.049523, —20th cer 001.422 Henry Holt books are promotions and pre For details contact: Director, Special Markets. alilable for special ns. st published in hardcover in 2001 by W. H. Freeman and Company First Owl Books Edition 2002 AW. H, Freeman / Owl Book Designed by Victoria Toma Printed in the United States of America 109 8 7 6 edicated to Fran, my dear wife of 42 years. As I accumu- lated stories about the men and women who made the statistical revolution during my career, she kept urging me to put them in a nonmathematical book. Fran, who has no mathematical training, helped me through the several revisions of this book, pointing out to me sections where my explanations were not clear. This book, especially those parts that are clearly under- standable, is due to her persistence.