Abstract
Contingency tables (or cross tables) classify elements of populations or samples (of varying kinds) with reference to one or more characteristics. For instance, classification of fatalities for a year according to age and mode of road usage. By means of a sample we try on the one hand to describe the population from which the sample is taken, and on the other to verify opinions about this population. The models of analysis described below assume that a sample gives a more or less correct picture of the populations, dependent only on random fluctuations.