| Summary: | A biometrician's work is defined through the biological or medical problem and the mathematical and statistical methods needed for its solution. This requires in most instances statistical data analysis and the use of methods of computational statistics. At first, it seems quite obvious that the computational needs of the biometric problem determine what has to be developed by the discipline of computational statistics. However, viewing the development of biometry and computational statistics in Germany for the past decades in more details reveals an interesting interaction between the activities of the German Region of the International Biometric Society and groups engaged in computational statistics within Germany. Exact methods of statistical inference and permutation tests, simulations and the use of the Bootstrap, and interactive graphical statistical methods are examples of this fruitful reciprocal benefit. This contribution examines therefore relationships between the historical development of biometry and computational statistics in Germany using as sources of information contributions to the scientific literature, presentations and sessions at scientific conferences on biometry and on computational statistics which influenced the development of both disciplines and exhibits a reciprocal dependency. The annual workshops organized on the Reisensburg now for more than 30 years are recognized as an outstanding factor of this interrelationship. This work aims at the definition of the present status of computational statistics in the German Region of the International Biometric Society and intends to guide and to foster the discussion of the future development of this discipline among biometricians.
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