Book Description

This is the first comprehensive introduction to Support Vector Machines (SVMs), a new generation learning system based on recent advances in statistical learning theory. Students will find the book both stimulating and accessible, while practitioners will be guided smoothly through the material required for a good grasp of the theory and its applications. The concepts are introduced gradually in accessible and self-contained stages, while the presentation is rigorous and thorough. Pointers to relevant literature and web sites containing software make it an ideal starting point for further study. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not even close to an intro...
Oh Puhleeeezzzzz... How is your vector math??? Remeber your linear algebra well? Do you have a background in SVM's? Intuitively able to suck out of thin air the meaning of the Gamma co-efficient as applied to svm's?? You've read all the background papers and remember your formal logic???? No?? too bad..your out of luck..

This book is more aptly titled an Introduction to the Formalisms of SVM's. If your a software engineer trying to implement one of these, forget it.. Be nice if they put that quadratic algorthim psuedocode into something more readable than greek symbology..

If you are trying to build one of these engines, then this book is of absolutely no help, unless you have a background in machine learning and have read all the papers on SVM's. If you can decompose the math into code in your head, then you might find it entertaining... What I don't get is how all the rest of these reviewers can give such "glowing praise" for this book and have it be so completely worthless as an introduction... makes me think some of these are shills..

Bottom line is, if your trying to code a svm, this book will not help. If your trying to understand how to implement a svm, this book will not help. If you are trying to understand how an svm works, this book will not help. If you want to know the mathematical basis for SVM's and like that presentation.. this is the book for you..

Excellent book
I just happened to read the reviews on the book on Support vector machines by Nello Cristianini and John Shawe-Taylor. Could not resist adding my own comments about the book. Excellent book. I plan to use the book for the course on "Fundamentals of computer aided engineering" that I teach at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL).

This is it !
The book is just great. The appendix on algorithms could have more explanations. Also the application section is a short. It would have been more usuful to take one of these applicaitons and describe it in details. But all in all, the book is excellent.

Cogent and Coherent
I used to believe that the thicker the book, the greater the chance that I'd be able to learn something from it. This book by Cristianini and Shawe-Taylor is the complete opposite.

The book is clear and concise in it's development of the theory of SVMs, and is thorough in going through all relevant background material. Particularly useful is the section optimisation which is usually missing from statistical and computer science backgrounds.

Beware that this book is not for the mathematically shy. If you want to learn about SVMs and don't mind getting your teeth stuck into some serious (applied) maths, then this book is for you.

A delightful book to learn support vector machines
This is a first book introducing support vector learning, a very hot area in machine learning, data mining, and statistics. Aside from Burges (1998)'s tutorial article and Vapnik (1995)'s book, this book by two authors actively working in this field is a welcome addition which is likely to become a standard reference and a textbook among students and researchers who want to learn this important subject. Besides tutoring systematically on the standard theory such as large margin hyperplane, nonlinear kernel classifiers, and support vector regression, this book also deals with growing new areas in this field such as random processes. More interestingly, this book discusses a lot of applications which I consider very imoportant and healthy for the advance of this field, such as medical diagnosis, image analysis, and bioinformatics. In all, I strongly recommend this book for students, and young researchers who want to learn. I'm sure a lot of people will find this book a wise investment, since it provides a handy and timely review of a rapidly growing field. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Once Great
I probably would never have gotten my PhD without this book, and it is a stupendous classic. Nowdays, though, my first resort is always Maple or Mathematica, with their manifold capabilities. I still find it useful for trying to understand what those programs are doing by way of simplification (or, more commonly, not doing). Eventually Maple and Mathematica will figure out that they need to couple a powerful explanatory capability to their marvelous algorithms, and this book will become truly obsolete - but that date is not yet here as of 2004.

Four stars only because it has been partly overcome by history. 5 Plus for its historical importance.

Improved my insight and understanding each time used
I have enjoyed using this book over quite some time. Its comprehensiveness promised to never let me down. It did keep the promise since the late seventies. Whenever I needed a clearer picture, perhaps a reason why a function did behave the way it did, I found the additional clarification here. Glad it exists.

Excellent, but with limitations
This book, originally published in 1964 by the National Bureau of Standards, is the result of a project started in 1954. It provides information on most of the functions then widely used in numerical computation in engineering and the physical sciences, including many formulas, and numerical tables of values for most of the functions.

In 2001 it has two drawbacks. First, because algorithms for computing numerical values of mathematically functions have improved dramatically over the 37 years since this work was published, you will not find suitable algorithms for computing values of the various functions discussed. To write a program for a computer or programmable calculator to produce values of any of these functions, you should use algorithms obtained from more modern works.

Second, and for much the same reason, you should not assume that all the numerical values given in all the tables are completely accurate; in 1964 calculations of some of these values with then-known algorithms pushed the state of the art to the limit. For example, in Table 7.3, "Complementary Error Function", two of the values attributed to a 1951 table by O. Emersleben are slightly incorrect in the last digit tabulated. This is not a criticism of this book, or of Emersleben; accurate calculation of values of the complementary error function for large arguments is tricky, and I have found similar errors in tables compiled more recently. However, good algorithms are now known, and should be used by anyone who desires reliable values.

These days I find this book still useful for refreshing my memory on various of the many formulas it contains, but for numerical values I prefer to rely on more recent sources, or on programs that derive values using the better algorithms known these days.

The most important handbook I ever seen
This book is a compendious of mathematical tables, formulas and graphics. It contains a very complete table of analytical integrals, differential equations and numerical series. Furthermore there are tables of trigonometric and hyperbolic functions, tables for numerical integration, rules for differentiation and integration and techniques for point interpolation and function approximation. There is a whole section for mathematical and physical constants as fractions and powers of Pi, e and prime numbers. Statistics are also discussed by presenting combinatorial analysis and probability functions. In its more than 1000 pages, almost all mathematical areas are treated. Every time you need same mathematical relation or information you will find it on this book. If you work with mathematical research or numerical computing you must have this book.

A Must Have but with drawbacks
Certainly A&S is one of the very few books that have marked history for having become a standard reference text for functions. And with merit. I'd like to point out however the fact that there are certain drawbacks to its format: if You have to find out a specific property of a function You have to inspect every single bit of info You have at your disposal through the book; for example if You're looking for a property that is a particular case of a more general one You have first to identify the more general one, and this is certainly a difficult thing. Also another drawback is that functions with more than one parameter are not classified according to the value of the parameters themselves; You have to try to figure out the behaviour by yourself. Another bad thing is that not all the functions are graphed (example: Whittaker W and M). In any case, with its so large extent of covered topics, it is still the most valuable book of functions; for more specific or strange and particular subtopics or unusual properties You have to check the original texts where A&S took info from. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the greatly revised and greatly expanded Second Edition of the hugely popular Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing.The product of a unique collaboration among four leading scientists in academic research and industry Numerical Recipes is a complete text and reference book on scientific computing.In a self-contained manner it proceeds from mathematical and theoretical considerations to actual practical computer routines. With over 100 new routines bringing the total to well over 300, plus upgraded versions of the original routines, this new edition remains the most practical, comprehensive handbook of scientific computing available today.Highlights of the new material include:-A new chapter on integral equations and inverse methods-Multigrid and other methods for solving partial differential equations-Improved random number routines -Wavelet transforms -The statistical bootstrap method-A new chapter on "less-numerical" algorithms including compression coding and arbitrary precision arithmetic.The book retains the informal easy-to-read style that made the first edition so popular, while introducing some more advanced topics.It is an ideal textbook for scientists and engineers and an indispensable reference for anyone who works in scientific computing. The Second Edition is availabe in FORTRAN, the traditional language for numerical calculations and in the increasingly popular C language. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Proprietary source the Achilles' heel for non-students
I first bought this text in 1994 while doing scientific programming for graduate school work. A fellow graduate student had suggested I use an undocumented routine that (I later discovered) came from Numerical Recipes (NR). I was impressed enough with NR's presentation of ideas that I also bought the example book ISBN 0521437210 (which I've hardly cracked since) and a diskette of source code (which cost as much as the book but worth it). I was able to do a lot of basic research quickly with NR code, and I still occasionally use NR's routines.

The authors have certainly done a good job assimilating a lot of material. Since other reviewers have done well to highlight the importance and utility of this landmark book, there is no need to repeat those sentiments here. However, to this title's detriment, the authors consider their book to be a proprietary library of source code more valuable than the explanatory text discussing it (one can in fact download the text on-line though it's hardly worth the hassle). This perception is ironic since the authors confess that "the lineage of many programs in common circulation is often unclear" (p.xviii), and many details of presentation, ideas, and algorithms are clearly "borrowed" from other excellent (some now out-of-print) numerical methods books or journals.

I often wondered why NR routines occasionally adopted bizarre and/or obviously inefficient programming structures - over time I decided that this was probably done to make these algorithms appear as so not to clearly violate other published material. As a student, NR's legal disclaimers regarding derivative works (p.xvi) never bothered me and I was willing to overlook the sometimes unpolished source code insofar as it functioned properly. However, as a professional I now find the lack of fair-use provisions on the uncompiled source way too restrictive to rely on these routines in good conscience (I have to buy another textbook or license for every soft copy or machine upon which the source code resides!). I suspect this policy ultimately hurts NR's textbook sales: it would be nice to able to use and pass along the source code between professional colleagues without restriction because most would certainly buy (if they don't already own) the textbook to understand what the source does (just as I did). Source code used in scientific programming is practically worthless without proper documentation, and there's no better documentation than a full length textbook!

I have since expanded my numerical methods library to other references supporting true public-domain codes. With an expanded basis of comparison, I regret to say that I am becoming less and less impressed with NR's implementations and explanations. I am finding many of NR's algorithms to be inefficient or unnecessarily approximate, and - on rare occasion - buggy. There have been quite a few bugs uncovered over the years, and the NR web site has done a good job of keeping track of them (although I know of at least one bug uncorrected by NR to this day).

This book is excellent for students wanting a good reference for quick and dirty types of analyses or scientific computing. Professional programmers, scientists, engineers, specialists or analysts performing software development for laboratory or scientific research would be well advised to reference this title, but ultimately they will likely need to rely other resources if they require efficient and/or unrestricted (public-domain) source codes for their work.

(P.S. - A reviewer elsewhere noted that the "quality of the binding was terrible" and I've also found this to be the case. My hardcover is literally had to be taped on after a few years of use.)

A Useful Tool for Programmers, Researchers, and Students
This book contains hundreds of "canned codes" in the FORTRAN language. The book provides several variations of many popular numerical techniques and provides the most stream line (comp. time) codes available. Most codes allow for optimization to be build in, such as an RK4 (4th Order Runge-Kutta) with variable steps sizes. Great if you don't want to write your own code for a subroutine, or it you just don't know the method well enough to write it yourself. The book also provides some basic explaination of the techniques and codes with is very helpful so that the code is less of a black box, although its not that detailed.

There is also a CD available that has the codes already written and ready to go. I prefer to type it in on my own, or just make my own because it gives a better udnerstanding of what the code is doing. The biggest turn-off for me is that some codes have subroutines upon subroutines which can make things a mess.

All around a useful tool for programmers, researchers, and students.

Indispensible, a classic in the field
This volume, and its companions for other programming languages, is an absolute classic. The authors strike the right balance between cookbook solutions and theory, so that most of us get just enough background to choose the right algorithm but not so much to get drowned in theory. This edition is the first devoted only to Fortran, but is the second edition published by the authors. It includes a number of additions and corrections, many of which appeared in Computers in Physics (now the journal Computing in Science and Engineering published jointly by the IEEE and the APS). My only criticism is, where were these books twenty years ago when I needed them? I would recommend these books to anyone involved in the application of numerical methods. They are tremendous time savers.

I never bothered with the discs, as most of the routines are fairly short and not a problem to type in, but I recommend the companion example books to help get the routines running.

Routines an more routines
If you ever had to program a complicated numerical algorithm, such as SVD decomposition, Bessel functions, eigensystems or Fourier transform, you will know how useful this book is. All those problems, and many others, are presented, the theory is explained and the full code of a routine, which solves it, is given. This version brings the codes in FORTRAN 77, but there are versions for Pascal, C++ and Basic. If you need any routine, you just have to "cut and paste" it from the book into your program.

Clear explanations with good code
I converted the authors' multigrid program on p. 870 to Visual Basic and ran it in EXCEL. Comparison with exact solutions for special cases of Poisson's equation showed it to be accurate to micro percents in less time than it takes to write the spreadsheet (a second or so). The explanation of the program in the text is clearer than specialist discussions like Wessling (An Introduction to Multigrid Methods), but doesn't contain theoretical analysis of convergence rates. Personally, I find it more persuasive to plot the errors vs number of cycles, number of smoothings etc. than to read theoretical analysis.

The authors also compare various methods and give practical advice about which methods to use. Specialist texts on numerical methods aren't much good in this regard, being hung up on methods where it is easy to prove convergence rates.

Bottom line: Good code, good qualitative discussion, good comparisons of methods. ... Read more

Book Description

A FIRST COURSE IN STATISTICAL METHODS addresses a pressing need in the methods course?a shorter text designed for a one-term course. By selecting and revising material from their best-selling two-semester text, AN INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICAL METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS, Fifth Edition, the authors created an ideal book for a one-term course in statistical methods. Based on the belief that statistics is a thought process tied to the scientific method, the text utilizes a 5-step approach: 1) defining the problem, 2) collecting data, 3) summarizing data, 4) analyzing and interpreting the data, and 5) communicating the results of the analysis. ... Read more

Book Description

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES is a unique collection of competition problems from over twenty major national and international mathematical competitions for high school students. The discussion of problem solving strategies is extensive. It is written for trainers and participants of contests of all levels up to the highest level: IMO, Tournament of the Towns, and the noncalculus parts of the Putnam Competition.It will appeal to high school teachers conducting a mathematics club who need a range of simple to complex problems and to those instructors wishing to pose a "problem of the week", "problem of the month", and "research problem of the year" to their students, thus bringing a creative atmosphere into their classrooms with continuous discussions of mathematical problems.This volume is a must-have for instructors wishing to enrich their teaching with some interesting non-routine problems and for individuals who are just interested in solving difficult and challenging problems. Each chapter starts with typical examples illustrating the central concepts and is followed by a number of carefully selected problems and their solutions.Most of the solutions are complete, but some merely point to the road leading to the final solution.Very few problems have no solutions. Readers interested in increasing the effectiveness of the book can do so by working on the examples in addition to the problems thereby increasing the number of problems to over 1300.In addition to being a valuable resource of mathematical problems and solution strategies, this volume is the most complete training book on the market. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

This book has most topics that you see at an Olympiad
This book has a lot of topics that you see at a mathematical competition, like IMO. It has Number Theory, Geometry, Games, Combinatorics and many strategies to solve a difficult and exciting problem. I recommend this book for you.

A book for everyone who loves mathematics
I disagree with another reviewer(Math Messiah) who thinks this is a book only for intelligent people like himslf. The problems are wide ranging and numerous and even dumb people (me, for instance) can find fun and excitement in many of them. I also have an advice for the Math Messiah who is on brink of some major discoveries: hold on to that brink, and don't drop.

Excellent So Far
I have just started working on this book recently. I've been reading through and working on the problems in the number theory section which are excellent so far. There is a good balance between warm-up/basic training problems and hard contest problems so you won't be discouraged too easily. I have browsed through the other sections and they seem very good. Must have if you are preparing for math contests!

it was fun for reading :)
it was really good book to read and the solution of them are really good. i enjoyed to read these books:)

good book, if you want to be best like me you should buy it
I am best at mathematics. I have won several national titles in my country. I am at brink of discovering solutions to several unsolved problems in mathematics. I got good by competions against good young mathematicians. I think this book is very good for intelligent people, not dumb people. If you want to improve your problem solving you will buy this. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Little ones can love math!
FAMILY MATH FOR YOUNG CHILDREN is an excellent source of fun activities to do with pre-school children. Each activity helps to instill an appreciation for mathematics and emphasizes mathematical discovery. If all young children had the opportunity to experience these activities, we would have fewer adults afraid of mathematics! ... Read more

Book Description

The power and attractiveness of the subject of mathematics is often hidden from students who are in introductory courses. In this new, innovative overview textbook, the authors put special emphasis on the deep ideas of mathematics, and present the subject through lively and entertaining examples, anecdotes, challenges and illustrations, all of which are designed to excite the student's interest. The underlying ideas include topics from number theory, infinity, geometry, topology, probability and chaos theory. Throughout the text, the authors stress that mathematics is an analytical way of thinking, one that can be brought to bear on problem solving and effective thinking in any field of study. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

I disagree with the implied goal of this book
I disagree with the implied goal of this book to give people who are unable and/or unwilling to learn mathematics an easy way to fulfill a mathematics requirement. When are mathematicians going to face the fact that not everyone can enjoy and do mathematics? Do we ask students to read Dr. Seuss in fulfillment of a literature requirement?

The world is already filled with too many people who think they understand mathematics and who are practicing mathematics. The real challenge is to educate those who are able and willing to learn mathematics and ensure that mathematics is applied competently.

But if one wants to make a buck selling mathematics books, this is the way to do it. I'm reminded of the quotation: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." - Attributed to H. L. Mencken

Gets to the heart of mathematics!
I disagree strongly with the previous reviewer who found the text "disturbing." That person and his/her student friend missed the point entirely! This is not a textbook aimed at the traditional recipes for solving sets of mathematical problems. Rather, it is a survey of mathematical thought from ancient to modern times and the astonishing aspect is that it is within the grasp of all students to comprehend it!

For example, we don't just learn the Pythagorean formula for right triangles and apply it to specific problems. We discover with hands on clarity WHY Pythagoras' theorem is true! What could be more elegant that Euclid's easily understood proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers? Moreover, we get to see those abstract notions put to great use in encryption without which even amazon.com would not be the great success that it is! All of this is comprehensible to any student willing to read the text and to participate in classroom discussion.

The authors nurture creative thinking throughout keeping students alert to and on the lookout for patterns while encouraging them to try new methods of attacking problems. This is how REAL mathematics works! Also, they make it clear that mathematics is not a closed subject having solved all number problems. They provide many examples of problems that took centuries to solve (Fermat's Last Theorem) along with some that have yet to be cracked (Goldbach's Conjecture).

Things really start to get interesting when the text delves into the nature of infinity. The authors set this up very cleverly, first, with an early introduction of a simple and innocent looking game which is eventually used as a stepping stone into Cantor's proof and, second, with a highly visual analogy of numbers on a conveyor belt used to compare the cardinality of sets. Finally, they treat the student to an infinity of infinities! The student cannot help but grasp the essence of the great ideas and appreciate the thinking that yielded such marvelous concepts.

The text introduces many more areas of fascinating mathematics some which were touched on in earlier reviews here. I particularly enjoyed the discussions of the fixed point theorem as well probability and statistics in the final chapter where the student sees the need to question statistical data (polls). The student will acquire an appreciation of both the power and limitations of statistical inference.

Will the student leave the course laden with mathematical techniques and skills that will allow them to solve systems of partial differential equations or to model nonequilibrium chemical processes or to design the first interstellar space probe? Of course not. They will leave the course as better thinkers and with a much greater appreciation of mathematics!

Disturbing to say the least
Dear Authors of The Art of Mathematics:

Hi, I don't know how to start this letter

I am a friendly person who likes to build people up, and likes helping people

I offered my help to a new friend, who just started attending SJSU

Since she has no math background, she had to take a basic math course.

I have a BS in Chemistry/Nuclear Physics from SJSU

I have tutored hundreds of students, in mathematics, physics, chemistry,
spanish, etc

And I had to warn so many students about the lack of touch with reality of some
college Professors, and their lack of guidance to students in how to prepare
themselves to succeed in college.

For instance, I would warn them that organic chemistry is different than general
chemistry, and that usually college professors would never warn the students
that they are trying to cramp too much knowledge too soon, and specially with
organic chemistry, that they will be ill prepared if they didn't start studying
before they take the class

I have helped in several University programs, like EOPS, Upward bound, Summer
Bridge, Alliance for minority participation, Minority engineering program, etc

And I have met so many professors who are unhelpful and out of touch with the
reality of the difficulty of mastering any concepts

For instance, electricity and magnetism, Maxwell's equations, etc,
Students get discouraged because they can't see what is going on, and no one
seems to remind them that what it took scholars decades to master, they are
asked to understand in a semester

Well, when I went to help my new friend, and she shows me she has to prove
Cantor's method for ... I was shocked...

I love mathematics, it is not my major, but I have loved the process of
reflexion that this science has brought to my mind

But I find it SO DISTURBING that a friend who has never taken any geometry, or
trigonometry, or basic logic, etc, etc, is thrown into trying to prove something
that, again, it took scholars decades to understand

I see it everywhere in the academic world

It is SO EASY to forget how hard it is not to understand

I read an article written in the seventies, in a journal of Chemistry, about the
margin of excellence

The whole article was about how the margin of excellence was being lost, because
of the need to expose undergraduates to as much knowledge as possible (without a
true mastery or understanding of it)

I think few students will have the courage to express their minds and/or able to
see that maybe the purpose of the book was the self agrandizemnt of its authors

Students ask the professor for a deeper explananation, which the same professor
can't provide

Then students find themselves regurgitating the answer given to them, and fake a
true understanding to pass the class

I love mathematics, but just to see a water down introduction to deep concepts
of mathematics, and the exposure of these concepts to students who may or may
not have the intellectual skills (for the lack of formal mathematical classes)
is disturbing to me.

Please, please, please, send spies into the classrooms of people taken this
course and be willing to hear the true opinions of students

Best of life to you

Sincerely

An Unusual Book of Wide Interest
The Heart of Mathematics is an unconventional math survey aimed primarily at social science and humanities students. While students in "soft" majors are the primary intended audience, math majors and others who have already progressed beyond the introductory level are likely to find this book of great interest as well.

The book gives readers a good feel for the variety of problems that mathematicians tackle. In fact, one of the book's great strengths is the range of topics it covers, from number theory and games, to topology, to chaos and fractals. It does this with little use of conventional mathematical notation or jargon, and the level of presentation is so elementary that the book can be "read" just as any non-technical book can be read. At the same time, the authors go to great lengths to encourage reader participation. Many hands-on demonstrations and experiments are provided, and the end-of-chapter exercises ask readers to discuss the material with others and write about their experiences.

The topics presented are fascinating. I read this book on my vacation and found several passages to read to my wife and daughter almost every day. (This provided a lot of amusement for everyone when my 12-year-old daughter would solve problems in a few seconds that I had been pondering without much success.)

The book's subtitle is "An Invitation to Effective Thinking," and the authors present problem-solving strategies that can be applied to problems within and outside the field of mathematics. While readers will no doubt be familiar with many of them already, it is difficult for me to imagine anyone who would not benefit from at least some of the strategies presented.

The authors' writing is very informal with a lot of corny humor - possibly too much for a lot of people - but at the same time you do get a sense of the authors as good guys who know some important things and want to share the wealth.

In summary, this is a most unusual and stimulating book. Highly recommended.

interesting read
Dr. Starbird teaches my number theory course. Just needing to fulfill requirements, I'm taking the course as a wash (I've already had the more advanced courses). I figured since he saved us money by not requiring a text, I could spend the money to check out his (co-authored) book.

It's well worth the money ... and, at best, will enrich your daily thought process. At worst, if you are a student of mathematics, it will at least help you along in the more abstract approaches, giving you a basis and idea of the thought process mathematicians use to approach problems. I wish I had encountered it as a freshman! ... Read more

Book Description

Upon publication, the first edition of the CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics received overwhelming accolades for its unparalleled scope, readability, and utility. It soon took its place among the top selling books in the history of Chapman & Hall/CRC, and its popularity continues unabated.Yet also unabated has been the dedication of author Eric Weisstein to collecting, cataloging, and referencing mathematical facts, formulas, and definitions. He has now updated most of the original entries and expanded the Encyclopedia to include 1000 additional pages of illustrated entries.The accessibility of the Encyclopedia along with its broad coverage and economical price make it attractive to the widest possible range of readers and certainly a must for libraries, from the secondary to the professional and research levels. For mathematical definitions, formulas, figures, tabulations, and references, this is simply the most impressive compendium available. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Good book, missing a few things
I was hoping the book would include a thorough reference for mathematical notation and symbols, but it doesn't. No list of methematical symbols, no table to the Greek alphabet, etc. It's frustrating when you encounter a new symbol in a text and you don't know what it means; and it's difficult to look it up when you don't know what it's called. ...

Aside from that, quite an interesting book. Lots of interesting terms I never knew existed. For example, any idea what a "McNugget Number" is? Get the book and find out! :-)

... If the website were still online I probably would have bought the book anyway; websites are good for a quick lookup, books are good for longer reading. ...

Scientists should never support dishonesty
You can read what editors did to Eric Weisstein on the web. I've just one thing to say: as mathematicians, we should never support such processes. Look, this book is almost the only one I found on Amazon where the "Look inside this book" option has been locked. This is business only, not maths, and we mathematicians are not sharks.

Excellent Content ... but Its also Available Free
I'm not giving this book 1 star because its a bad book! I'm giving this book 1 star because you shouldn't under any circumstances buy it (in my opinion of course).

The book is a compilation of the mathematical artices compiled by Weisstein over many years. It is the most complete collection of introductory mathematics you can imagine, with ever expanding detail, and contributions from a large number of different writers. I could effuse about the content for hours: it has saved my mathematical bacon on very many occasions, and remains my major reference to new areas of math. This book, while being a new edition, still only contains a small fraction of Eric's content.

The complete contents of this book, instantly and easily searchable, with cross references, links to other topics and sites, and incorporating animations is all available at the mathword.wolfram.com website. It is all available free of charge, and is constantly edited and updated. In addition, a huge amount of extra material is there which couldn't be contained in this book.

A previous reviewer alluded to the fact that Eric, when trying to publish his website (which was always a website, long before he signed the deal for the book, and was given special dispensation in the publishing contract), was sued by the publisher of this book and told to take his site down. Although I can see it from the publishers point of view, their attitude towards this key resource was undoubtedly callous and cynical.

I'd really recommend you use his excellent website. If you feel bad that Eric isn't getting his royalty from your purchase: send him a cheque for $5.

What an Amazing Reference!
I finally found a copy of this book available used, and I snapped it up. I'm absolutely thrilled with it. I'm a math and sciences hobbyist (and not a very advanced one) so I can't comment on accuracy. But the book leaves me with a wonderful way to start researching ideas I've read about in other books and papers.

Each entry in the book includes plenty of information, and almost all of them have references to other entries for related subjects. Many have references which include information about deeper papers or books about related subjects, so I can really do some reading!

I wish the volume included a dictionary of mathematical symbols. After that, my only complaints are minor. First, the book doesn't discuss any people. That is, it has strictly limited itself to mathematic concepts and doesn't have bibliographic entries for mathemeticians and scientists. Second, the book doesn't include pronunciation information.

Boycott CRC - use the on-line version instead
I wish I had known about how evil and unethical the people at CRC are before I bought this book from .... You can read the sordid details on the web site for the book mathworld.wolfram.com. As for the book and CD, it is a great resource; I'll take the other reviewers' word for it not being as rigorous or complete as a professional mathematician would want -- most people who need a book like this are not professional matheticians (why would a professional mathetician even need any math encyclopedia anyway?). ... Read more

Book Description

This classic study probes the geometric interrelationships between art and life in discussions that range from Plato, Pythagoras and Archimedes to modern architecture and art, flowers, shells and marine life, the human face and much, much more. Also explored: the Golden Section, geometrical shapes on the plane, geometrical shapes in space, crystal lattices and many other fascinating topics.
... Read more

Reviews (4)

A good book focused on Phi
I'm not a mathematician, but I still found this book to be readable. It is largely focused on the Golden Section (Phi) and related proportions, including Fibonacci numbers, sqrt(Phi), etc. The explanation of how to derive this number is clearly explained in the first few chapters. The following chapters show how Phi is related to most things we see everyday, including architecture, 5-point animals, crystal latticies, art, and music. This book is quite old, so the illustrations seem rather antiquated. Nonetheless, the quantity and clarity of these illustrations are impressive.

The writing was clear, but the concepts were occasionally difficult to understand. The author made mention of "gnomic" growth a number of times without really giving a single clear definition. Also, I felt that a number of the tie-ins between Phi and architecture were a bit of a stretch. Most likely you could overlay any graph over a blueprint and see any proportion you'd want to see. At any rate, this book has gotten me interested in this subject, and I will be looking for more books on Phi.

Accessible and Fascinating
This excellent book, written in 1946, still remains in print, and for good reason. Ghyka shows mathematically that objects in nature are not randomly formed, but all have regularity and harmony.
Beginning with the concepts of ratio and proportion in the plane, the Golden Section, and then to regular polygons and geometric shapes in 3 dimensions, Ghyka demonstrates these patterns with simple algebra and geometry, and plenty of diagrams.
He explains the logarithmic spiral and its role in harmonious growth in nature, with photographs and diagrams. He shows how ancient builders used the Golden Section in their architecture and in their art. This book is a wonderful weaving of philosophy, mathematics and science, covering a lot of ground, and is very well-written. It is nothing like trying to wade through H.M.S. Coxeter! This book would be a fine companion to Cook's "The Curves of Life," fleshing out the concepts presented there.
This little book is a gem -- there is a tremendous amount of information packed into its 174 pages, yet it is understandable to the layperson. And it is aptly titled. It truly is about "The Geometry of Art and Life."
If you are one of those observant persons who is looking for a more detailed understanding of the underlying patterns in nature, art and architecture, and you don't mind spending a little time going through some simple algebra and geometry, this is the book for you.

Aesthetics you can sink your mind into
Why are beautiful works of art beautiful? What makes a striking piece of architecture striking? Why is it we find such pleasure in admiring a flower, or a tree? Rather than addressing these questions from a subjective standpoint, Ghyka analyzes the mathematical geometry of classical art, architecture, and biology and attempts to find a common thread to bind them all together. It's a wonderful mix of mathematics and history with a touch of philosophy to season it well. The math is simple, the sort of high-school geometry we've all had and forgotten, but it's critical for the understanding of his argument. If you hate math, you're probably not going to enjoy this book, but if you love art, and are willing to entertain an opinion as to _why_ you love it, I'd recommend suffering through it anyway - I've certainly developed a deeper appreciation of art and aesthetics in reading this book, and think it could be very valuable to serious (or not so serious) art lovers and artists.

EVERYTHING "EXISTS" IN MATHEMATICS
This book provides a ver comprehensive approach in proving how everything exists in one way or the other according to definite mathematical calculations. This book is serious reading for everyone, especially persons whose profession depends on mathematics such as engineers, architects, teachers, artists, mucicians, financial analysts etc. Wall Street experts who follow the theories of the legendary W.D. Gann would be aazed to see a diagram on page 31 & 166 that resembles the Gann :master squares." ... Read more

Book Description

Why do even well-educated people understand so little about mathematics? And what are the costs of our innumeracy? John Allen Paulos, in his celebrated bestseller first published in 1988, argues that our inability to deal rationally with very large numbers and the probabilities associated with them results in misinformed governmental policies, confused personal decisions, and an increased susceptibility to pseudoscience of all kinds. Innumeracy lets us know what we're missing, and how we can do something about it.

Sprinkling his discussion of numbers and probabilities with quirky stories and anecdotes, Paulos ranges freely over many aspects of modern life, from contested elections to sports stats,from stock scams and newspaper psychics to diet and medical claims, sex discrimination, insurance, lotteries, and drug testing. Readers of Innumeracy will be rewarded with scores of astonishing facts, a fistful of powerful ideas, and, most important, a clearer, more quantitative way of looking at their world.
... Read more

Reviews (53)

interesting book, but lacking focus
The problem that resulted in this book is far-reaching: the public simply doesn't understand mathematics. Statistics, ranging from a 10%-off sale to the sort found in opinion polls, are unfathomable to the general populace. Probability, especially in the context of gambling, is understood by only a scant handful of people. The list of misunderstood mathematics is nearly endless.

In the first few chapters of the book, Paulos describes various issues that the innumerate (that is, those who don't understand numbers and math) often have issues understanding. He describes the issue to a reasonable level of detail, then derives answers for them. Don't let the use of the word 'derive' scare you off: the answers are readable and readily understandable to a general audience. In some cases, if you're really rusty, you might need to read them a second time to grasp the solution.

Later chapters, however, are not written for the innumerate. They are attempts to convince the reader that mathematical education needs to be improved. I think that everyone agrees that education should be improved, but he offers suggestions that are impractical or nonsensical.

Ultimately, the problem of this book is a lack of focus. Paulos could have written either a book that tackles basic mathematical issues that the general public doesn't understand, or he could have written a book that describes the consequences of innumeracy. He tried to do both, and stuffed both topics into a single slim volume. In doing so, he shortchanges both audiences. The result is a book that is good, but does not fully address the needs of anyone.

If you find yourself uncomfortable with mathematics, pick up a copy of this book and read up to chapter five. If you are comfortable with mathematics and are looking for fodder to prove the point that improving mathematical knowledge at any level is productive, this book will not serve your purpose.

lifting the shackles of cultural innumeracy
I read this book several years ago and believe it to be a classic that would enhance any mathematics study course by making it topical and a part of the reader/student's everyday environment. What mathematics teaching needs is humanising - this book could go some way towards doing this.

This short review follows a review I have just written for 'I Think Therefore I Laugh' - another of Mr Paulos' books. Because I rate 'Innumeracy' so highly I decided to look at Customer Reviews for it, and found some clashed with my own assessment.

Some reviewrs are offended by Mr Paulos' perceived attitude towards the innumerate - believing that he is condescending in an off-putting way. I don't see it that way except inasmuch as we are all innumerate at some level and have to learn to become more numerate - just as a golfer has to learn to read the cut of the green if they want to be a good putter. And numeracy skills will certainly enhance the way we see the world and respond to its mysteries as Mr Paulos shows so cleary.

Interesting applications
Delighted by the latest Paulos' book (a mathematician plays the stock market) I was really interested in reading more of his books. This one is a non-technical introduction to the main concepts of probability and statistics. While the concepts themselves are not new for many people, the applications of these concepts are very interesting and entertaining. Paulos provides from a deconstruction of pseudoscience, to an optimal algorithm for finding your spouse...

Important message, but missing the audience?
Innumerates in the press and politics threaten reasonable trade-offs because of wrong perception about the real risks of different actions or inactions. This perception mistakes are due to innumeracy, or incapability to read and understand the language of numbers, among important groups. In this rather funny book (or essay), Paulos is showing a lot of examples, especially of journalists, having no concept at all of numbers, especially really big and really small ones. Too much of the book is devoted to the examples, however. Each and every one is quite funny, but they tend to be repetitive after a while. Besides, I'm really afraid Paulos is missing his target. I bought the book because I too am upset about innumerates, but therefore I've seen a whole lot of the examples before. Innumerates probably don't mind buying the book in the first place. (If that's wrong: terrific!)

The last part of the book is far better, and I even learned some useful math/statistics on the way. The law of big numbers, and the central limit theorem are both explained elegantly, and some implications new to me were presented. Paulos is a good writer, though, and is very easy and quick to read. So if you've got a couple of hours and a few quid to spare, you might as well read it. There are certainly some anecdotes from gambling theory you didn't know.

Convinced me to stop playing the lottery
OK.. I'm a theatre major so it doesn't take to much for me to be impressed by numeric intelligence. But this is a good starting point to thinking of the "facts" of various cases in a new light. Not the entire story but a bit of motivation to think for oneself.
And it did convince me to stop playing the lottery so it has clearly paid for itself many times over. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A Mathematician's Apology is a profoundly sad book, the memoir of a man who has reached the end of his ambition, who can no longer effectively practice the art that has consumed him since he was a boy. But at the same time, it is a joyful celebration of the subject--and a stern lecture to those who would sully it by dilettantism or attempts to make it merely useful. "The mathematician's patterns," G.H. Hardy declares, "like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics."

Hardy was, in his own words, "for a short time the fifth best pure mathematician in the world" and knew full well that "no mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game." In a long biographical foreword to Apology, C.P. Snow (now best known for The Two Cultures) offers invaluable background and a context for his friend's occasionally brusque tone: "His life remained the life of a brilliant young man until he was old; so did his spirit: his games, his interests, kept the lightness of a young don's. And, like many men who keep a young man's interests into their sixties, his last years were the darker for it." Reading Snow's recollections of Hardy's Cambridge University years only makes Apology more poignant. Hardy was popular, a terrific conversationalist, and a notoriously good cricket player.

When summer came, it was taken for granted that we should meet at the cricket ground.... He used to walk round the cinderpath with a long, loping, clumping-footed stride (he was a slight spare man, physically active even in his late fifties, still playing real tennis), head down, hair, tie, sweaters, papers all flowing, a figure that caught everyone's eyes. "There goes a Greek poet, I'll be bound," once said some cheerful farmer as Hardy passed the score-board.

G.H. Hardy's elegant 1940 memoir has provided generations of mathematicians with pithy quotes and examples for their office walls, and plenty of inspiration to either be great or find something else to do. He is a worthy mentor, a man who understood deeply and profoundly the rewards and losses of true devotion. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A classic of the mathematical literature
Every discipline has a list of items that must be read if one is to be considered educated in that field. There is no doubt that this book should be required reading for any degree in mathematics. Most of the soul of mathematics is contained in the 91 pages of the 'Apology' (the first 58 pages consists of the foreword by Snow). Written in his later years when Hardy knew his mathematical powers were failing, this is a superb exposition by a brilliant, eccentric personality. He not only captures the grandeur of mathematical discovery, but also clearly articulates the feelings of a man who knows that his time has passed. First published in 1940, the twin messages are timeless.
Clearly distinguishing between the real mathematician and the puzzle solver, Hardy is exceptional in declaring what the real beauty of mathematics is. Among all the beautiful things that exist, the percentage of individuals that can truly appreciate an elegant theorem is among the smallest. However, anyone who can read this work and not see at least some of the poetic qualities of mathematics has a blind spot in their soul. One of the masterpieces of literature, this book can be understood and appreciated by anyone with an eye for the beautiful things that life has to offer.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

A unique book, should be read by everybody
Hardy was a man that comes along rarely in life, and this book is an even rarer portrait of how men like him think. As a mathematician, Hardy was excellent, his collaboration produced much fruitful work, and he is perhaps most renowned for discovering the young protege Ramanujan. But this book is not really about his work, but about his views on life, and mathematics, as a whole. Considering how little people in American society know about mathematics and its practitioners, this book, which is emminently readable, will give all people a unique view of what some mathematicians think like. The book is short, but interesting from first page to last. Hardy was past his mathematical prime when he wrote this book, but this book probably is his most influencial he ever wrote.

The introduction by C.P. Snow is more like a short biography about Hardy, and it's about the same length as Hardy's actual text. It gives us insights into what one of Hardy's friends thought of him, and it also frames the life Hardy was living in as he wrote this book.

Hardy's opinions are strong, and undoubtedly every reader will disagree here and there with him. But he shows the reader some of the gems of mathematics, and perhaps the reader will be able to appreciate those even without formal mathematical training. He also talks about war and what he thinks of it. Whatever the reader thinks about Hardy's opinions, this book gives us the opportunity to glimpse into the mind of an artist - one different than the usual meaning attached to the word, but one nonetheless - and experience a part of human life not experienced by many - the wonders of mathematics.

One should not need an apology
What is discomforting to me about this book is simply that Hardy decided to write it. Hardy describes that people do what they do because they do it well (the so called standard apology), that they do it because they don't do anything else well, or they didn't have a chance to do anything else. Hardy also exclaims that pure mathematics has no utilitarian value, and does not benefit society.

But why can't mathematicians study math for the love of the subject? What is so bad about not caring about utilitarian value? Why should we have to justify our existence to others? The fact that Hardy seems so compelled to justify his existence, and all he comes up with is benefiting a pool of knowledge in the platonic realm, is almost pathetic. Why couldn't he have studied math for his own self-interest? This book would have been all the more refreshing if he stated he loved working with Ramanujan and Littlewood, and that this in itself is a justification, and not some means to some cloudy end.

Other areas of the book are equally disappointing. We hear the commonplace notion that after 40, one's mathematical abilities are pretty much over. Yet this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Without confidence in your abilities, how do you expect to get anywhere? What about Erdos, who still actively did math up until his death? Wiles was over 40 when he finally resolved Fermat's Last theorem.

You may wonder with this criticism, why I chose 4 stars. This is because, for all its drawbacks, it is at least an interesting account of Hardy's relationship with math. It is however, disheartening how fatalistic he is. It would have been refreshing to hear something of pride, not pretentious or sneering, but pride exclaiming that nobody should ever feel the need to write an apology for their existence.

Motivation for anyone questioning being a Mathematician
Hardy, in just a few short chapters, crafted a beautiful book that is nothing less than a devotional for mathematicians. Reading one chapter a day for the rest of my life would keep anyone in a state of mathematical bliss. In my own educational journey, Hardy gave me the feul for the fire to persist in my degree program. Every sentence of this short memoir is quotable, and I would recommend this book for anyone considering entering the field of math as well as anyone who feels stale in their choice of becoming a mathematician. In A Mathematician's Apology, Hardy clearly shows that he is the Knute Rockne of math.

Interesting book for the mathematics lover.
I think this is overall a worthy read for any true lover of mathematics. Firstly, its a very short book and can be covered in one or two sittings easily. The book isn't very detailed in a discussion of 'pure' mathematics, so with that said, this is a good book to compare and contrast a person's own ideas about mathematics to. It is NOT a good book to solely get reasons why it is is worthy to study pure mathematics. I also disagree with a thing or two in the book(the major one being that Hardy believes mathematics exists itself in reality and that mathematicians are only observers to this)and because of the historical time the book was written in, some of the statements in the book are completely inaccurate (ie that quantum mechanics and relativity have no 'practical use' and that pure mathematics is of no 'practical' use in wartime and is an 'innocent' or 'immaculate' science because of this). To sum it up, if you have personal ideas about 'pure' mathematics and its justification, then this is a good book to get a few ideas on, but if you have no clue what 'pure' mathematics is and want to know more about it and/or want a justification of its uses, then read a book on the history of mathematics. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is designed to give the reader a strong grounding in the mathematical basis of photogrammetry while introducing them to the related fields, such as remote sensing and digital image processing, which are increasingly important to photogrammetric research and practice. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good introductory book
It's a good introductory book, but for the HALF of the price of this book you can purchase a TWO wonderful volumes of Karl Kraus Photogrammetry (ISBN:3427786943 on Amazon.de)
with the abundance of very practical procedures. ... Read more

Book Description

Also featuring: Keith Peters, David Hirmes, Lifaros, Paul Prudence, Pavel Kaluzhny, Ken Jokol

Forget school math class, Flash math is about fun.it's what you do in your spare time - messing around with little ideas until the design takes over and you end up with something beautiful, bizarre, or just downright brilliant.

It's a book of iterative experiments, generative design; a book of inspiration, beautiful enough to leave on the coffee table, but addictive enough to keep by your computer and sneak out while no-one's looking so you can go back to that Flash movie that you were tinkering with 'til 3 o'clock this morning.

In New Masters of Flash the designers told us about themselves and deconstructed their finest effects. Well this time we've gathered the best in one book and simply asked them to go away and do what they do best: play. We give you the code and explain the essence, then you take your inspiration and run with it. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Math Creative?
I always knew somewhere in the back of my head that Math and physics could be creative. I remember getting through Calculus and Intro to Physic course back in college by trying to understand the concepts visually. Mind you, I failed Intro to physics once and got a D in Calculus3 by doing it that way. Fast-forward 4 years. I've been using flash on and off for about a year but started doing actionscripting, about 2 months ago. I picked up this book when I bought ActionScript: The Definitive Guide, I think this book is a great companion. I found that I was using this book as a springboard to learn creative visual Actionscripting techniques. Though I found the explanations hard at time, definitely not a book for beginners, its a great source to get your hands dirty. I've coded examples and found myself going off in my own creative direction afterwards. I think the most satisfying moment I had was relearning Trig but seeing it on a screen. It definitely gave me a deeper understanding to some math concepts and proving my thoughts way back, that math can be visually creative.

Is this the magic behind Flash?
Most of those amazing Flash films share have the very same secret: mathematics, especially geometry. Many basic and advanced techniques in this area need to be taught. A review of some basic concepts would also be helpful. It's true that a lot is done by trial and error, but those who grasp the basics are the ones who know what can be done with what is available.
This book has beautiful, colorful pages and many contributors, some with great ideas - learned from some imagination and from some trial and error.
Yet this one book fails considerably. Great opportunity, great idea. But no math is really taught, no basic technique is really given. What can be found is only a mixed bag of ad-hoc math solutions to produce some nice effects and little meat.
What is wonderful about this book is its potential. What is tragic about this book is its end result.

Codes??
The projects are pretty cool if you have enough knowledge of flash to finish some of the code by yourself. With a few of these projects I had the feeling the codes weren't complete

incomplete codes
very good designs to stimulate creativity using maths. Too bad the downloads don't contain all the codes. For example, each author writes several sections, and in each sections there are some samples, some are variations one design, but the variations can be quite substantial at times. The download only gives the basic design. You would have to figure out how the other ones will look like on the screen, without the movie clip design. This is not satisfactory.

Very cool book
I was lame at math in school....but not anymore. If you want to apply trignometry, and coding to make cool animations (without messing around in photoshop) check this book out. It is also a candidate for the coolest layout of any Flash title. Chicks dig it, (jk). ;) ... Read more

Book Description

Since 1975, The Analysis of Time Series: An Introduction has introduced legions of statistics students and researchers to the theory and practice of time series analysis. With each successive edition, best-selling author Chris Chatfield has honed and refined his presentation, updated the material to reflect advances in the field, and presented interesting new data sets.The sixth edition is no exception. It provides an accessible, comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of time series analysis. The treatment covers a wide range of topics, including ARIMA probability models, forecasting methods, spectral analysis, linear systems, state-space models, and the Kalman filter. It also addresses nonlinear, multivariate, and long-memory models. The author has carefully updated each chapter, added new discussions, incorporated new datasets, and made those datasets available for download.Highlights of the Sixth Edition:·A new section on Handling Real Data·New discussion on prediction intervals·A completely revised and restructured chapter on more advanced topics, with new material on the aggregation of time series, analyzing time series in finance, and discrete-valued time series·A new chapter of Examples and Practical Advice·Thorough updates and revisions throughout the text that reflect recent developments and dramatic changes in computing practices over the last few yearsThe analysis of time series can be a difficult topic, but as this book has demonstrated for two-and-a-half decades, it does not have to be daunting. The accessibility, polished presentation, and broad coverage of The Analysis of Time Series make it simply the best introduction to the subject available. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent starting place for time series analysis
This tidy book is a highly readable, introductory survey to the topic of modern time series analysis. It excels in its ability to focus on the more intuitive aspects of analysis and model identification. The discussion of both time- and frequency-domain approaches is reasonably balanced, and Kalman filtering is also introduced. While it touches on many modern aspects of time series analysis, it sometimes (intentionally) lacks important technical depth necessary for implementation.

The author has done an admirable job at keeping the book manageably small. However, the reader is occasionally left wanting where interesting details are omitted because the author considered them "beyond the scope" of the book. For example, the preface mentions that several new topics are incorporated into the 5th edition (wavelets, for example), but the reader only finds a gratuitous single paragraph with references to complementary journal articles. In these few rare cases, the discussions are not intuitive enough for the reader to know whether it would be profitable to bother with further research at the professional journal level. Still, this title does well to reference the most important landmark works in the time series literature. Those performing remedial research may find it is easier - and more productive - to simply consult Chatfield's recommendations of important topical works before resorting to online or library literature searches.

This text has been in print since 1975 with new editions arriving every 5 years or so (perhaps even a 6th edition is close, since the last edition is copyrighted 1996). I am usually suspicious of textbooks having increasingly larger numbers of editions because the continual re-writing implies some level of recurring insufficiency. However, the frequency of update is probably justified due to continuing advances in this field of study. As a result, this title is surprisingly current given its introductory status (although the 4th and 5th editions do not differ too much).

For someone new to time series analysis, this may be one of the better places to start, especially for the price. Readers lacking in intuition or experience in time series analysis - especially non-statisticians - will certainly appreciate this introductory title. The more experienced analyst will also be well served by the author's expert perspectives - but to do practical work, this text will still likely need to be supplemented. The generous citation of additional literature will help the reader to know where to go next.

concise and well written introduction to time series
When I was a graduate student at Stanford my advisor taught an elementary time series course out of Chatfield's book. It was either the first or the second edition. I was his teaching assistant. The book has been very successful and is now in its fifth edition. It covers most of the important topics concisely and in an intuitive manner. This book gives the student a feel for time series analysis and an appreciation for its applicability. It is not meant for someone who wants a rigorous treatment and a strong understanding of the theory. For that the text of Brockwell and Davis or Anderson or Brillinger or Priestley are more appropriate.

Claros conceptos estadísticos en Series de Tiempo
Realmente explica de manera clara, conceptos básicos en series de tiempo, por lo cual lo recomiendo para cualquier persona, así conocera el fantástico Mundo del análisis estocástico en el tiempo... ... Read more

Reviews (14)

The Cat's Meow
As stated by prior reveiwers, this books does assume that the reader is Mathematically mature (a saying most young Mathematicians despise), in the sense that he/she must be able to follow the logical development of any given arguement, be able to 'see' where and how topics are related as well as fill in any blanks that may present themsevles in a given definition/proof. Apostol, as compared to Rudin, does a nice job of filling in these blanks by adequately providing all of the necessary details within a proof. This book will provide the willing student with a solid foundation in elementary analysis as well as the confidence to persue higher analysis. The only draw back to Apostols book, aside from cost, is that the constant Theorem - Proof - Theorem format can be overwhelming at times and cause some readers to cover material too quickly. Despite the book's cost I would highly recommend this book over "baby" Rudin (that is, Principles of Mathematical Analysis) since Rudin is notorious for not filling in the blanks within a given proof and instead provides seemingly 'slick proofs'.

A cut above the rest...
I am currently studying from Apostol's book, completeing a year-long course with his treatment of the Lebesgue integral. While my experience with comperable analysis texts is not exhaustive, I am familiar with the more notable: "Baby" Rudin, Marsden,... So, I can confidently say that Apostol's text is among best covering the subject. His treatmen