It’s World Statistics Day. Not doing it for you? What if I tell you that the best way to celebrate is by drinking Guinness. One of the most famous and widely-used statistical tests, Student’s t-test, was invented by Guinness’ head brewer William Gosset in 1908 to help him cultivate only the finest barley. Given that the competition between Carling and Guinness was intense, Gosset invented the t-test to determine how to grow the finest barley and how to make Guinness stay fresher, longer than Carling.

The test is called Student’s t-test though because Guinness wouldn’t let him publish his findings because someone else had leaked trade secrets just before leading the company to remain tight-lipped about all its methods. Gosset simply published under the name student and the name stuck.

So remember, without Guinness, we’d have no t-test, and without the t-test, your Guinness would be a little less delicious. Happy World Statistics Day!