The order statistics of a sample are the values placed in ascending order. The i-th order statistic of a statistical sample is equal to its i-th smallest value; so the sample minimum is the first order statistic & the sample maximum is the last. Sometimes 'order statistic' is used to mean the whole set of order statistics, i.e. the data values disregarding the sequence in which they occurred. Use also for related quantities such as spacings.
This tag is for questions about order statistics and for questions in which one wants to calculate a probability, expected value, variance, standard deviation, or similar quantity about order statistics. The order statistics of a sample are the values of the sample placed in ascending order. The i-th order statistic of a statistical sample is equal to its i-th smallest value. Order statistics are widely used in non-parametric statistics and robust inference.
Wikipedia has a good article with further references.
