Statistics links microscopic and macroscopic phenomena, and requires for this reason a large number of microscopic elements like atoms. The results are values of maximum probability or of averaging. This introduction to statistical physics concentrates on the basic principles, and attempts to explain these in simple terms supplemented by numerous examples. The basic principles concentrated on are the difference between classical and quantum statistics, the a priori probabilities as related to degeneracies, the vital aspect of indistinguishability as compared with distinguishability in...