I prefer Websters..... Dictionary.com is like Wikipedia.staˇtisˇtics: noun plural but singular or plural in construction \stə-ˈtis-tiks\

Definition of STATISTICS

1: a branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data


2: a collection of quantitative data

All past tense there- straight from Merriam Webster.




Odds vs. Statistics

Odds and statistics are related areas of mathematics which concern themselves with analyzing the relative frequency of events. Still, there are fundamental differences in the way they see the world:
  • Odds deal with predicting the likelihood of future events, while statistics involves the analysis of the frequency of past events.
  • Odds is primarily a theoretical branch of mathematics, which studies the consequences of mathematical definitions. Statistics is primarily an applied branch of mathematics, which tries to make sense of observations in the real world.


Both subjects are important, relevant, and useful. But they are different, and understanding the distinction is crucial in properly interpreting the relevance of mathematical evidence. Many a gambler has gone to a cold and lonely grave for failing to make the proper distinction between odds and statistics.

This distinction will perhaps become clearer if we trace the thought process of a mathematician encountering her first craps game:
  • If this mathematician were a probabilist, she would see the dice and think ``Six-sided dice? Presumably each face of the dice is equally likely to land face up. Now assuming that each face comes up with probability 1/6, I can figure out what my chances of crapping out are.''
  • If instead a statistician wandered by, she would see the dice and think ``Those dice may look OK, but how do I know that they are not loaded? I'll watch a while, and keep track of how often each number comes up. Then I can decide if my observations are consistent with the assumption of equal-probability faces. Once I'm confident enough that the dice are fair, I'll call a probabilist to tell me how to play.''

In summary, odds theory enables us to find the consequences of a given ideal world, while statistical theory enables us to to measure the extent to which our world is ideal.

Completely different as odds deals with the "theory" that something will happen while statistics is a mathematical calculation based on outcomes. I could flip a coin for heads (1:2 odds) 1000 times. The odds are that 500 would be heads and 500 would be tails. You don't know the statistics until you actually flip the coin 1000 times. The odds are that the statistical results will not match the odds- if you can grasp that.