Statistics

===Statistics applied to mathematics or the arts===
Traditionally, statistics was concerned with drawing inferences using a semi-standardized methodology that was "required learning" in most sciences. This tradition has changed with the use of statistics in non-inferential contexts. What was once considered a dry subject, taken in many fields as a degree-requirement, is now viewed enthusiastically.{{according to whom|date=April 2014}} Initially derided by some mathematical purists, it is now considered essential methodology in certain areas.
* In [[number theory]], [[scatter plot]]s of data generated by a distribution function may be transformed with familiar tools used in statistics to reveal underlying patterns, which may then lead to hypotheses.
* Predictive methods of statistics in [[forecasting]] combining [[chaos theory]] and [[fractal geometry]] can be used to create video works.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cline|first=Graysen|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1132348139|title=Nonparametric Statistical Methods Using R|date=2019|publisher=EDTECH|isbn=978-1-83947-325-8|oclc=1132348139|access-date=2021-09-16|archive-date=2022-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515012840/https://www.worldcat.org/title/nonparametric-statistical-methods-using-r/oclc/1132348139|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The [[process art]] of [[Jackson Pollock]] relied on artistic experiments whereby underlying distributions in nature were artistically revealed.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Palacios|first1=Bernardo|last2=Rosario|first2=Alfonso|last3=Wilhelmus|first3=Monica M.|last4=Zetina|first4=Sandra|last5=Zenit|first5=Roberto|date=2019-10-30|title=Pollock avoided hydrodynamic instabilities to paint with his dripping technique|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=14|issue=10|pages=e0223706|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0223706|issn=1932-6203|pmc=6821064|pmid=31665191|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1423706P|doi-access=free}}</ref> With the advent of computers, statistical methods were applied to formalize such distribution-driven natural processes to make and analyze moving video art.{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}}
* Methods of statistics may be used predicatively in [[performance art]], as in a card trick based on a [[Markov process]] that only works some of the time, the occasion of which can be predicted using statistical methodology.
* Statistics can be used to predicatively create art, as in the statistical or [[stochastic music]] invented by [[Iannis Xenakis]], where the music is performance-specific. Though this type of artistry does not always come out as expected, it does behave in ways that are predictable and tunable using statistics.