General Theory of Statistics (Electronic book text)

The present book is a statistical course for undergraduate students in all fields of social and economic sciences. The book presents a manual on the course "General Theory of Statistics," including a series of not quite traditional topics. First of all, it concerns the mathematical bases of statistics and use of computer technologies in statistical probing. Thematic choice of the chapters and sections of the book is caused not only by interests and tastes of the authors, but also by modern tendencies in applied statistics and orientation of the given work. The book is based on a course of lectures given by the first author for undergraduates in social and economic sciences along with three books published in Russian and English in Estonia, Lithuania and Byelorussia. This book has been written for a large enough audience of teachers, researchers, statisticians, students, collegians and users of statistics in behavioral and social sciences. Above all, the book is directed to a wide circle of the readers studying statistical disciplines in high schools and colleges; however, it can be useful also to persons independently studying statistics.