Quantification in History, as Seen from France
in Val Lorwin & Jacob Price, eds., The Dimensions of the Past. (1972) New Haven: Yale University Press

Formal Methods

The article argues that the rise of quantification in historical analysis is the result of: (1) the widespread adoption of the collective biography and (2) the arrival of historians trained in outside disciplines with analytic training and a desire to answer questions about long-run changes in society.