[Koshkin]

> distinguish between statistics and mathematics

It has always seemed to me that it is correct distinction. Although there exists a branch of mathematics called mathematical statistics, by its very nature statistics is more like physics, in that it is trying to develop efficient methods of getting information about the objective world based on a certain kind of observations and measurements; and, of course, just as theoretical physics, statistics is highly mathematical, which often creates confusion regarding the actual subject of investigation.