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Estimation

Estimation is the procedure that is used to determine the value of a particular parameter associated with a population. To estimate the parameter, a sample is drawn from the population and the value of the estimator for the unknown parameter is calculated.

Estimation is divided into two large categories: point estimation and interval estimation.

HISTORY

The concept of estimation dates back to the first works on mathematical statistics, notably by Bernoulli, Jacques (1713), Laplace, P.S. (1774) and Bernoulli, Daniel (1778).

The greatest advance in the theory of estimation, after the introduction of the least squares method, was probably the formulation of the moments method by Pearson, K. (1894, 1898). However, the foundations of the theory of estimation is due to Fisher, R.A.. In his first work of 1912, he introduced the maximum likelihood method. In 1922 he wrote a fundamental paper that clearly described what estimation really is for the first time.

Fisher, R.A.