Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists

Rating:
Summary: Buy Hayter instead
Review: I am a math major currently taking probability in my last year of college in NYC. I don't like this book!! The examples in the chapters make sense... but many of the exercises at the end of each section are not fair (hehe)... you need to make a lot of conclusions and jumps about what you read in the chapter that I am not able to make on my own. If the chapters were more in-depth or more detailed, then things would be different. But I feel like the chapters give examples that are much too simple compared to the exercises you are asked to do on your own. For instance, in the second chapter there is a section on permutations and combinations and all that good stuff... it was all good... but then when I got to the exercises at the end of the section, I found that there was no way I could have answered many of them without any previous knowledge on the subject (of which I had none.) There is no way that I could ever use this book to teach myself... you really need a good teacher or someone who understands the topic to help you (a lot!) if this is your first try at probability. I am a straight A student in math, so I feel that my beliefs on this book are pretty credible... and it seems that I am in good company!!!

Rating:
Summary: Good book for those who know what they're doing
Review: I really enjoy using this as a reference book when I need to look something up about inference. Everything in the book is highlighted well and gives clear and concise answer. If you're a straight A student in Math, there should be nothing confusing about this text.

Rating:
Summary: Worked a lot better for me than the others
Review: I thought this was a pretty good text for an introduction to statistics with a modicum of calculus (I used the 5th edition). I am a biologist and had taken statistics without calculus (VERY cookbook approach the first time through) so maybe knowing where the math was eventually taking me was the difference. I am very (brutally) applied in my interest in statistics (use it daily to model fish populations, estimate critter abundance, etc.) so I could see where I would not agree with the mathematician who said it killed the beauty of the subject (although I am not gifted enough in math to see the beauty of statistics; I honestly would like to be). Also I did cover the text in two classes (1st up through calculating a confidence interval, 2nd on the general linear model) so that may have made a difference as well - if the others were forced to march through all of the material in the book in 18 weeks. I notice that a lot of the reviewers are computer scientists (ones in my class hated the subject matter - I was not sure why it was a required course for them anyway) or mathematicians. Anyone else out there from the natural or physical sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, geology) that had experience with this book? Finally - I don't recall the plethora of errata that the others refer to - although I had previously heard this complaint about earlier editions of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Worked a lot better for me than the others
Review: I thought this was a pretty good text for an introduction to statistics with a modicum of calculus (I used the 5th edition). I am a biologist and had taken statistics without calculus (VERY cookbook approach the first time through) so maybe knowing where the math was eventually taking me was the difference. I am very (brutally) applied in my interest in statistics (use it daily to model fish populations, estimate critter abundance, etc.) so I could see where I would not agree with the mathematician who said it killed the beauty of the subject (although I am not gifted enough in math to see the beauty of statistics; I honestly would like to be). Also I did cover the text in two classes (1st up through calculating a confidence interval, 2nd on the general linear model) so that may have made a difference as well - if the others were forced to march through all of the material in the book in 18 weeks. I notice that a lot of the reviewers are computer scientists (ones in my class hated the subject matter - I was not sure why it was a required course for them anyway) or mathematicians. Anyone else out there from the natural or physical sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, geology) that had experience with this book? Finally - I don't recall the plethora of errata that the others refer to - although I had previously heard this complaint about earlier editions of this book.

Rating:
Summary: freaking piece of Sh**
Review: I'm a professional who works in the tech industry, and I'm pretty competent in Stats. I'm taking a Design of Experiments class this term for my masters program, and for whatever reason the instructor chose to use this book. It's utterly useless, piece of [literature]. The explanations are poor, no good examples, and NO ERRATA for a error-prone book!! I wonder if the authors paid instructors to use this book, because it's simple one of the worst books ever written. I'm sellign this junk right afterwards.. it's not even worth the shelf space... use it for toilet paper maybe!

Rating:
Summary: This is a difficult book from which to teach yourself
Review: I'm a second year computer science student taking a course on probability, and this is the book we are using. Why, I don't know, because it's not a very good book. I'm not a note-taker, and have a difficult time paying attention in math classes, so I usually teach myself from the book. With a 3.6 GPA, I'd say it usually works. Not so with this book.

This book lacks sufficient examples and the definitions and explanations of theorems are confusing. To its credit, it has odd answers in the back, but that's standard for math books. However, it lacks any answers to the review exercises at the end of each chapter, making the review exercises nearly worthless.

Rating:
Summary: Most miserable book EVER!
Review: I'm a senior (4th year) electrical engineer at a well known engineering school. I believe i have an IQ somewhere above a 20 (sarcasm) and this is the most convoluted, useless piece of crap ever. The course should be relatively simple and the material is pretty straight foward... however, the book makes the material a chore to learn. There are few examples, poor definitions, and vague explanations. If you are a professor, do not get this book unless they pay you! And if you did get the book, you would do a disservice to all your students (the reason why you have a job,... unless you're one of those "research" professors)

Rating:
Summary: Buy Hayter instead
Review: Not worth the paper it's printed on or the ink used to print...poor trees! =(

Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary text : precise , complete and expressive!
Review: This book was my battlehorse when I was an Engineer Industrial student in the eighties . Stiil I bought the second Edition , this one has a visible quality above the others . His nice presentation , the increased level of difficult in every chapter .
Useful for those Enginnering students , Pharmace, Administration in Pre Grade and Post Grade students .


Rating:
Summary: few mistakes in 7th Ed., but no better for it ...
Review: This is a required text for my statistics course. Personally, I do not understand why this text has been selected.

There are mistakes throughout the book. This causes a lot of frustration as wasted time.

There are very few examples in the book, and there are not examples that illustrate all concepts. Some of the examples start out explaining a certain concept, then instead of solving it all the way through, show how it can be transformed into a different problem which is then solved a completely different way.

There are answers in the back of the book to odd numbered problems, as is normal in most math books. However, that is all. Simply the answers. The work required to acheive the answers is not present, so it can be very difficult to determine where a mistake has been made (Whether in your own work, or if the book is incorrect).

The writing itself is very convoluted and uses far too much jargon for this to be a useful teaching text. I feel that the authors were more interested in making themselves sound intelligent than actually trying to help a student understand the material.

If looking for a statistics text, look elsewhere.