This book deals with the philosophical and methodological aspects of information technology and the collection and analysis of data to provide insight into a problem, whether it is scientific research, policy making by government or decision making in our daily lives. The author seeks to dispels the doubts that chance is an expression of our ignorance which makes accurate prediction impossible and illustrates how our thinking has changed with quantification of uncertainty by showing that chance is no longer the obstructor but a way of expressing our knowledge. Indeed, chance can create and help in the investigation of truth. This theory is eloquently demonstrated with numerous examples of applications that statistics is the science, technology and art of extracting information from data and is based on a study of the laws of chance. It shows how statistical ideas played a vital role in scientific and other investigations even before statistics was recognized as a separate discipline, and how statistics is now evolving as a versatile, powerful and inevitable tool in diverse fields of human endeavour such as literature, legal matters, industry, archaeology and medicine. The use of statistics to the layman in improving the quality of life through wise decision-making is emphasized.

C.R.劳，美国科学院院士，英国皇家统计学会会员， 当今仍健在的国际上最伟大的统计学家之一，他于1920 年9 月10 日出生于印度的一个贵族家庭，1940 年获印度安德拉大学数学学士学位，1943年在印度统计研究所取得统计学硕士学位，随后赴英国剑桥大学师从现代统计学的奠基人R.A.费歇(Fisher)教授，并于1948年获得剑桥大学博士学位。

在青年时期就取得了许多成就，如著名的科拉姆-劳信息不等式(Cramer-Rao)是他1943 年完成、1945 年正式发表的。迄今，C.R. 劳教授已著书14 部，发表学术论文350 余篇，共获得包括英国、印度、俄罗斯、希腊、美国、秘鲁、芬兰、菲律宾、瑞士、波兰、斯洛维亚、德国、西班牙以及加拿大等16 个国家的大学以及研究机构的荣誉博士学位27 个，先后被选为美国科学院、英国皇家学会等31 个国际著名的科学和...