Statistiek, Operationele Research en Computer

The computer, which has penetrated practically all sectors of human activity, has also influenced the fields of statistics and operational research. In this lecture a bird's eye view is given, in which the lectures held in the different sections are quoted as detailed examples. In the first place the attention is drawn to the use of the computer for the computational and clerical work, inherent to well‐known statistical techniques such as computation of estimates of parameters from samples, analysis of variance, regression and correlation analysis, factor analysis and the analysis of time series. Another group of application relates to the processing of large amounts of data, with or without application of more advanced statistical methods, e.q. processing of survey data, processing and analysis of large amounts of laboratory data or quality control data in a plant. Special attention is paid to the rôle of the computer in promoting the cooperation between quality control experts and control engineers, both of which are active in the process‐control field. The computer plays an analogous role with respect to OR experts and control engineers, because of the common interest in optimization techniques. Further, the computer has played an important role in the application of OR methods and techniques. Special mention should be made of linear programming and of the use of simulation methods, in which both statisticians and OR‐analists are involved. The development of “management information systems” is mentioned, a close cooperation between administrative experts and statisticians andjor OR‐analists being urged upon. On the other hand statistics and operational research in their turn serve the computer, e.q. in the design of efficient coding systems and maintenance systems. Further, inside the computer there are many complicated priority and queueing problems, because of the enormous amount of data transported. Finally the important contribution is mentioned, which statistics and OR can make towards the efficient use of computers.