Stereology

Stereology is the science of estimating or measuring geometric quantities. A geometric quantity is something like length or surface area. Other common geoemtric quantities are volume and the number of objects. Estimation is a way to get an idea of how much there is without actually having to measure the value.

A few examples should make this easier to understand. Suppose that the question is, "How many trees are in a forest?" Ther might very well be millions of trees in any given forest. It does not make sense to count every tree. What does it matter if the answer is 23 million trees or 23 million and 5 trees? Besides, who is going to be able to count every single tree. It is too much work. The solution is estimate the number of trees and get a good idea of how many trees there are.

An important question might be, "How much copper can be retrieved by mining a given deposit?" Another important question might be, "If a drug is given to a patient, do any cells die?" Another interesting question to answer might be, "Even though these two ancient pots look alike, were they made from the same raw materials?"

Stereology is used in many diverse fields from paleontology, to forest science, to medicine, to pathology, archaeology, petrology, dentistry, anatomy, aquaculture, ... The list goes on and on.