Book Description

This book is about the use of modern statistical methods for quality control and improvement. It provides comprehensive coverage of the subject from basic principles to state-of-art concepts and applications. The objective is to give the reader a sound understanding of the principles and the basis for applying them in a variety of both product and nonproduct situations. While statistical techniques are emphasized throughout, the book has a strong engineering and management orientation. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

good book worst service
the book is very good ..no doubt but the service is aweful.

1. on the website they show it is a hardcover book and so i ordered for it but got a soft cover book ...now i have to worry about return or refunds etc...

2. had to wait for 3 weeks to get the book.

3. print quality aweful ...the original book has good color print...the one i received for the same price has a black and white print with very thin see-through pages...

my advice would be to avoid abebooks.com through amazon if possible because the same book is listed for $ 33 on their own website and here they sell it for $ 41 ...so waste ur money if u want.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about SPC
As the developer of the QI Macros SPC Software for Excel, customers often call with exotic questions about statistical methods for quality control.

Montgomery's book, more often than not, is the one I turn to for answers that I can't seem to find anywhere else. Even if I do find the answer in another book, it's always easier to understand in Montgomery's. The book is written in a way that makes seemingly incomprehensible statistics understandable. And there are plenty of examples.

If you're looking for a book to help you implement quality control in a small business, Montgomery's book is a bit too much, so you might consider my book on the Small Business Guerrilla Guide to Six Sigma or Six Sigma Simplified.

A solid text on statistical quality control
The book gives an overview of the importance of quality management, the basics of statistics (variability, distributions, etc.), different methods of statistical process control, the use of control charts, capability analysis, design of experiments, process optimization, and sampling. I found all of the chapters informational and practical.

Montgomery does a great job of presenting the theory, giving examples, and helping the reader understand the big picture of various concepts. For example, Montgomery states that a "Pareto chart does not automatically identify the most important defects, but rather only those that occur most frequently," and then gives an example illustrating when this can be so. This is something that might have been overlooked if not pointed out to the reader.

While to book is rather current in introductory theory and practice, there are some relics from previous editions. For example, the inclusion of a random number table in the appendix is rather useless, since all modern calculators and spreadsheets have random number functions. This minor complaint aside, the book is solid and worth having.

An all-in-one text.
This is a rather comprehensive book on SQC. It benefits from a good introductory treatment of Design of Experiments, a subject sorely missing from most SQC texts. The arrangement of topics in the book is logical from both pedagogical and practical points of view, and the author's stress on improvement -- rather than control -- is the right one for the readers.

A college beginner's SQC textbook
This is a typical college text book which serves very well on the subject,SQC. It has provided a good coverage on SQC, in particular, as an introductory text. Each SQC subject is treated well from a newcomer perspective. If you're a beginner in the college education and looking for a book on this subject, this is IT! ... Read more

Book Description

This book offers a straightforward, “nuts and bolts”, introduction to statistics. The explanations are clear and simple and minimize calculations where possible. A diverse range of applications and examples are presented to make the materials appealing to a wide range of learners.The Eighth Edition features new problems, more real data based examples and exercises, and fuller integration of technology.For individuals beginning a study of statistics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Probabilities
I have a little problem understanding the probabilities. I need somebody to help me ... Read more

Book Description

James Stewart, the author of the worldwide best-selling calculus texts, along with two of his former Ph.D. students, Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson, collaborated in writing this book to address a problem they frequently saw in their calculus courses.Many students were not prepared to "think mathematically" but attempted to memorize facts and mimic examples.ALGEBRA AND TRIGONOMETRY was designed specifically to help readers learn to think mathematically and to develop true problem-solving skills.Patient, clear, and accurate, the text consistently illustrates how useful and applicable mathematics is to real life. The new book follows the successful approach taken in the authors' previous books, COLLEGE ALGEBRA, Third Edition, and PRECALCULUS, Third Edition. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Made math fun!!!
This book helps when you miss a class session. I was able to keep up when I read the text on days missed. ... Read more

Book Description

During the great ages of exploration, "the longitude problem" was the gravest of all scientific challenges. Lacking the ability to determine their longitude, sailors were literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Ships ran aground on rocky shores; those traveling well-known routes were easy prey to pirates.

In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on.... ... Read more

Reviews (209)

Amazing subject, fascinating story
With "Longitude" Dava Sobel has written a very interesting book about the greatest scientific problem of the 18th century.

As a result of the 1707-shipwreck story (with a loss of 4 out of the 5 ships), the English Parliament offered in 1714 a 20.000 pounds reward to the person that could provide a practicable and useful way of determining longitude. (If you have forgot, longitude is the "lines" that runs from pole to pole). Not being able to determining longitude was a great problem. Ships spent excessive time trying to find its way back to port, or worse men, ship and cargo were lost at sea.

John Harrison (1693-1776) spent his lifetime trying to solve the longitude mystery. Harrison was a son of a countryman, with minimal schooling, and was self-educated in watch making. He made several timepieces, which all qualified for the reward, but the reward was delayed several times by the Longitude committee whom believed that other ways of measuring longitude were the preferred ones. Ultimately after a lot of harassment and trouble, Harrison was given the reward money.

Dava Sobel has done a wonderful job in this book, capturing Harrison's fascinating character, his brilliance, preserving and hard working nature. The author has also managed to strike a perfect balance between technical jargon and personal anecdotes, and she does it in such a way permitting the lay readers of the book to admire the elegance of Harrison's discoveries. I believe it is a sign of excellent quality when an author makes learning so interesting.

I was hooked from the first page of this book and I read it in 50-page gulps at a time.

Highly recommended!

John Harrison--an extraordinary person
John Harrison (1693-1776) spent his lifetime inventing and perfecting a series of timepieces to measure longitude. As Dava Sobel relates in her engaging narrative, "Longitude," until the 18th century sailors navigated by following parallels of latitude and roughly estimating distance traveled east or west. Ships routinely missed their destinations, often taking excessive time to arrive or succumbing to reefs off fogbound shores. Thousands of sailors and tons of cargo were lost.

In 1714, England's Parliament offered £20,000 (the equivalent of about $12 million today) to anyone who provided a "practicable and useful" means of determining longitude. Countless solutions were suggested, some bizarre, some impractical, some workable only on land and others far too complex.

Most astronomers believed the answer lay in the sky, but Harrison, a clockmaker, imagined a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea. By knowing the exact times at the Greenwich meridian and at a ship's position, one could find longitude by calculating the time difference. However, most scientists, including Isaac Newton, discounted a clock because there were too many variables at sea. Changes in temperature, air pressure, humidity and gravity would surely render a watch inaccurate.

Harrison persisted. As Dava Sobel writes, he worked on his timepiece for decades, though he suffered skepticism and ridicule. Even after completing his timepiece, an instrument we now call a chronometer, in 1759, he underwent a long series of unfair trials and demonstrations. Ultimately he triumphed.

Sobel, a science writer who contributes to Audubon, Life, Omni and other magazines, captures John Harrison's extraordinary character: brilliant, persevering and heroic in the face of adversity. He is a man you won't forget.

Brief but enjoyable
This slim volume tells the story of John Harrison who, although untrained, built four revolutionary clocks that changed how ships navigate at sea. It also tells about the political fight Harrison was forced to fight to win recognition for his work.

Written in a easy-to-read, "magazine" tone the tale goes quickly, whole years pass in a couple sentences. I wanted more details and this is where the book disappoints but it may not be the authors fault The book hints that many events weren't recorded and more details just aren't available.

One technical note: I think the font used in this tiny, five by eight inch book is a little small and the page numbers, even smaller, aren't readable at a glance. Or maybe I'm getting old.

Great story, but BEWARE of inaccuracies in this book.
John Harrison completes his first pendulum clock in 1713 before the age of 20. He made the gears for this out of wood which was radical for such a use, but as a carpenter, perhaps not to him---which is a mark of genius, I'd say; to reach beyond accepted norms in this manner. This he did after borrowing a book on math and the laws of motion; which he copied word for word, making his own copy. He incorporated different varieties of wood into his clock for strenth and later invented a bi-metal pendulum to counteract the expansion and compression of various individual metals. He also employed friction-free movements so as to do away with problematic lubricants. When intrigued by the puzzle of time at sea and the issue of longitude he contemplated substituting something not prone to gravity, as a pendulum of course is, to track times passing. In 1737 he creates a cantilevered clock 4 foot square. This the longitude board (which had offered a cash bonus to anyone who could devise a method in which time at sea could be kept) admired. Four years later he returns with an improved model; then starts on a 3rd model, like the previous two, also a fairly large sized clock.But there exists a problem within this book: An artisan freemason by the name of John Jefferys at the Worshipful Company of clockmakers befriends Harrison and then later presents to him a pocket watch in 1753. Then in 1755, while still working on his 3rd model, Harrison says this to the Longitude board: I have..."good reason to think" on the basis of a watch "already executed that such small machines[he's referring to pocketwatches] may be of great service with respect to longitude." He then completes version 3 in 1759. His fourth version appears just a year later, however, and is a 5 inch wide pocketwatch! The obvious inference made by the author is that after he received the pocketwatch from Jeffreys he seemingly put his version #3 on the backburner and soon started on the pocketwatch 4th version. The author does not claim Harrison copied anything from the Jeffreys model, but she certainly phrases this section so as to lend one to believe that this may have been the case; that Jefferys had a hand in the masterstroke invention Harrison eventually produced in version #4. This is not true. Harrison commissioned the watch he received from Jeffreys and was based on Harrison's specifications. It seems that Harrison simply asked Jeffreys to test an idea which he himself hadn't the time to attack just then; as he was still working on his 3rd version of a table-top prototype clock. Hence Harrison's above statement to the board in 1755 whence his ideas were validated by Jeffreys. In addition, the author plays up the part of the Astronomer Royal's part in attempting to impede Harrison from convincing the longitiude board of the efficacy of a time-piece solution to this problem over a celestial answer to this conundrum. The author also jazzes up the issue of whether Harrison received the prize the board promised to pay for a successful solution herein; even though the board supported him for upwards of 20 years as he pursued this quest. It's as if the author intentionally omitted some facts (that the Jefferys was a Harrison commission), and pumped up others (of a rival/foil on the board trying to impede Harrison and the compensation issue; implying that Harrison was jipped) just to make the story more compelling. John Harrison's story, however, is extremely compelling as it is and didn't need this extra spice served up by the author.Do read this (very short) book on how this Mr. Harrison solved the problem of knowing where one is when at sea; and if you're in London, visit the Old Royal Observatory and the Clockmakers museum (in the Guildhall) where you can see Harrison's wonderful creations in person. Enjoy!

The Man who Captured Time so Ships could Navigate Accurately
=====>

Note: This review has been written from a city with the following position on Earth:

LATITUDE: (43 degrees 2 minutes North)
LONGITUDE: (81 degrees 9 minutes West).

In order to understand the significance of this remarkable book by Dava Sobel, the reader has to understand some words and phrases in the book's title and subtitle.

"Longitude" along with Latitude are two numbers along with compass directions that are used to fix the position of anything on the planet Earth (as in the note above). Lines of Latitude are the imaginary, parallel, horizontal lines circling the Earth with the equator (fixed by nature) being the "zero-degree parallel of latitude." Lines of Longitude or "meridians" are the imaginary lines that run top to bottom (north and south), from the Earth's North Pole to its South Pole with the "prime meridian" (established by political means) being the "zero-degree meridian of longitude." (Since the mid-1880s, the prime merdian has passed through Greenwich, England. Before this time, the imaginary line that passed through a ship's home port was usually used as the zero-degree meridian.)

Finding the latitude on land or at sea was easy and eventually a device was invented to make it even easier. But finding longitude, especially at sea on a swaying ship was difficult, a difficulty "that stumped the wisest minds of the world for the better part of human history" and was "the greatest scientific problem" of the 1700s. Ways of determining longitude astronomically were devised, but these proved to be impractical when used at sea.

England's parliament recognized that "the longitude problem" had to be solved practically since many people and valuable cargo were lost at sea when the ship's navigators lost sight of land. Thus, this parliament offered a top monetary prize that's equivalent to many millions of dollars today to anybody who could solve the problem.

Enter "a lone genius" named John Harrison (1693 to 1776). While most thought the solution to the problem was astronomical, Harrison saw time as the solution.

To calculate the longitude using time on a ship at sea, you have to realize these two facts found in this book:

(i) The Earth takes 24 hours of time to spin 360 degrees on its axis from east to west.
(ii) Noon (12:00 PM) is the highest point the sun seems to "travel" in a day.

To learn one's longitude at sea using time, as this book explains, it's necessary to do the following:

(1) Know the time it is aboard ship (local noon was normally used because of fact (ii) above).
(2) At the very same moment, know the time at a known longitude (such as at Greenwich, England).
(3) The difference in time between (1) and (2) is coverted to a longitude reading in degrees and direction (using fact (i) above).

Harrison's solution was the accurate determination of time of (2) above by inventing a reliable timepiece. This timepiece, in this case, would be set to Greenwich time. (Note that, as stated, (1) could be determined using the noon-day sun but this was not always practical. Eventually another timepiece was used to determine the ship's local noon for a particular day.) It has to be realized that this was the "era of pendulum clocks" where, on a deck of a rocking ship, "such clocks would slow down or speed up, or stop running altogether." Harrison was to capture time by building a marine clock or "timekeeper" (eventually called a "chronometer") that could be used on a ship at sea.

This book tells the "true story" of Harrison and his chronometers. (There were five built over a forty-year period. Harrison's first timekeeping device was known as H-1, his second was H-2, and so on.) Sobel uses accuracy (as evidenced by her thirty references), extensive interviews, and an engaging, mostly non-technical narrative (only essential technical detail is included) to convey a story that's filled with suspense, heroism, perfectionism, and villiany. All this in less than 200 pages!!

The only problem I had with this book is that it has hardly any pictures (photographs and illustrations). I would have liked to have seen pictures of the various people involved in this saga, maps showing where ships traveled, more photos of Harrison's amazing timepieces (both interior and exterior), and diagrams that explained important concepts. A diagram that actually showed how longitude, using a simple example, is calculated (using the steps above) would also have been helpful.

Finally, there is a good 1999 movie entitled "Longitude" based on this book. Be aware that even though this book is short, the movie is long (over three hours).

In conclusion, this book documents the exciting "true story" of how "a lone genius" solved "the longitude problem." Sobel states this more eloquently: "With his marine clocks, John Harrison tested the waters of space-time. He succeeded, against all odds, in using the fourth...dimension to link points on a three-dimensional globe. He [took] the world's whereabouts from the stars, and locked [or captured] the secret in a...watch."

<=====> ... Read more

Book Description

This best-selling engineering statistics text provides a practical approach that is more oriented to engineering and the chemical and physical sciences than many similar texts. It's packed with unique problem sets that reflect realistic situations engineers will encounter in their working lives.
Each copy of the book includes an e-Text on CD - that is a complete electronic version of book. This e-Text features enlarged figures, worked-out solutions, links to data sets for problems solved with a computer, multiple links between glossary terms and text sections for quick and easy reference, and a wealth of additional material to create a dynamic study environment for students.
Suitable for a one- or two-term Jr/Sr course in probability and statistics for all engineering majors. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Worst book ever
I have never seen as many mistakes in any other college level textbook in my life. The authors are so lazy, the end of section questions refer to tables and information which you have to flip backwards 50 or 75 pages to find the example they are referring to. The could not come up with new examples of what. Definitely use Bean's book which uses many real world examples to illustrated ideas. This book is awful.

Riddled with Errors
This book has the potential to be good but I've already uncovered about 20 mistakes during 2 weeks of extremely light use. There are numerous problems that are set up so that the answers are insane (Z > 9 problem 7-42). I think the publisher should fire whoever proofed this book. Don't waste your money, get Walpole and Myers instead for an introductory text.

There are so many mistakes...so many
There are quite a few unforgivable mistakes...They highlight one of the most important formulas on a page and the formula is WRONG... The answers at the end of the book are so wrong that will confuse you. The authers should proofread the book much more carefully.

Good for reference
This is an excellent reference work, though, as a text is is inadequate. I found that several of the answers in the back are incorrect and often the practice questions rely too much "refer to problem 8-16." The explanations are somewhat hard to follow as is the practice of placing figures some distance away from the related text. This is a Wiley book so it is over-priced, but what are you going to do?

a MUST for every working engineer
I took this class during my 1st semester as an IOE student at Univ of Michigan. Back then I never had done any real applications of Stats before, so I basically chugged through the course. But now as a professional, working engineer, I realize what an awesome book this is!! It is a MUST as a reference tool for ALL engineers.. great examples as well. DON't sell this book back!! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

If you want to understand algebra and/or trig, buy this book
As an unchallenged high school student 30 years ago, I never really put much effort into either algebra or trig and still managed to ace my tests.This lack of a rigorous algebraic and trigonometric foundation killed me in subsequent college calculus courses.This book fixed that problem, 30 years later!If you are looking for a book to challenge a motivated high school student, this is the book.I loaned it to one such student after I finished it and she very quickly completed a year and a half of high school algebra and trig in one summer and went on to ace honors calculus that fall.

For myself, I picked up this book several years ago and started my math re-education.There are numerous margin exercises that are to be completed immediately after a new concept is introduced in a section plus 50-70 section end exercises.These exercises directly reinforce what you have just studied.There are numerous sections in each chapter.This layout is really nice because as a self study, it normally took me several days to complete a chapter and if I had to wait to do exercises at the end of each chapter, I am positive my retention would have been much lower and my frustration higher, leading to a consequent lowering of motivation.Fortunately, just the opposite happened with this book.Every time I completed a section I was motivated to learn more which reduced the time required to complete each chapter.Finally each chapter has a chapter review then a comprehensive chapter test.If you miss a question in the chapter review, the answer section point to the relevant section for review.

Every margin, chapter review and chapter test exercise has the answer in the back of the book.The section-end exercises have only odd answers in the back of the book, but this is not a significant problem.I noticed several things about these exercises at the end of each section.The exercises are not just "make work" but increasingly challenge the reader.The exercises are such that they catch and expose deficiencies in math manipulation skills.If you are weak in some area of algebraic manipulation, it becomes readily apparent in the exercises.The even numbered exercises are variations on the odd numbered exercises.If you can do the odd exercises, you'll be able to do the even exercises and so not require the answers in the back.If you messed up the odd exercise and understand the nature of the mistake, you can still do the even numbered exercise with confidence.

The Trig section is short (3 chapters) and dense.Again problems are uniformly excellent.The chapter on trigonometric identities makes the book worth its price by itself and pays off handsomely when studying calculus and you are attempting to solve integrals via trigonometric substitution.There are three additional chapters introducing linear algebra, conic sections and sequences.

The book makes use of decent artwork and has technology sections utilizing graphing calculators, but is comprehensive without having such a calculator.Despite the hefty cost for a large format paperback, this book is definitely worth it.The binding has proven to be extremely durable.I just wish I had this book so many years ago.My college math courses would have been so much more enlightening.

The best math book I've seen
I'm an adult learner who has always had trouble with math.This was the text in pre-Calc.Provides (1) clear, step by step instruction, (2) uncomplicated margin exercises to reinforce basic concepts, (4) lots ofgood practical problems, (5) a sea of drill problems, (6) chapter reviewexercises and (7) chapter tests. I refer to this book regularly. I wishthese folks would do a Calculus book!

An extremely helpful and concise review / re-learning text.
As a non-traditional student of 35 returning to undergraduate university, I had tested into Calculus but as the semester progressed, it bacame apparent that the intervening years had taken their toll on my math basics. It was clear that even as I struggled to understand the new material, Ihad either forgotten my basics or never learned them well.This lack wasseriously impeding learning the new material.I finally took a reviewcourse with this book, re-took the calculus, graduated cum laude, went onfor Masters degrees, and am now working on my doctorate.This book cutthrough all the "math-ese" to understanding the basics of thecalculations, not just regurgitating the material. The authors also seem tobe able to focus on exactly where people routinely have problems in a veryunderstandable language. It is not an exaggeration to say a single book canbe pivotal in one's success.

A GREAT textbook for the math-phobic
I bought this book to help me in a college algebra course, and I cannot begin to tell you how useful it has been. This book has exquisitely clear examples and each problem is worked in a step-by-step fashion that ensuresthat you will not only know HOW to get the correct answer, but allows youto thoroughly understand just how you derived it. I am so happy with thisbook that I've recommended that it be used in my university college algebracourses....it's that good!! ... Read more

Book Description

Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity provides a lucid and thoroughly modern introduction to general relativity. With an accessible and lively writing style, it introduces modern techniques to what can often be a formal and intimidating subject.Readers are led from the physics of flat spacetime (special relativity), through the intricacies of differential geometry and Einstein's equations, and on to exciting applications such as black holes, gravitational radiation, and cosmology.For advanced undergraduates and graduate students, or anyone interested in astronomy, cosmology, physics, or general relativity. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

To learn GR, read this one first...
I may be biased (as a student there), but the University of Chicago has the market for textbooks on GR cornered. Between Sean Carroll and Bob Wald, the student has everything he needs. I do have to reccomend reading this one first though, as the explanations are more physical (where Wald is more formal) and the style is more readable and easier to digest. In short it is probably the best book on the market from which to learn GR. Once you finish this book, add Wald's to your library for a more complete reference set (Wald's book is likely the best on the market once you already know GR).

Great GR Book!
This book has helped me long before it was ever published! It is based off of lecture notes that Carroll gave for a graduate level General Relativity course. These notes are still freely available at:

http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9712019

But you miss out on extras like better diagrams, more examples and exercises, so this is still a great buy!

Stellar
This is a fantastic book on cosmology both to learn cosmology for the first time and to use later as a reference book. Most useful text I have bought in a long time.

Fabulous!
Fantastic introduction to the topic -- even for the non-physicist who likes to dabble in such subjects.

Buy This Book
if you want to learn GR and have fun learning it.

Of course this review is completely unhelpful, but I've never reviewed books on Amazon before, and I felt obliged to review this book for various reasons better kept to myself. (Edit : It turned out that a long time ago, I reviewed Nakahara. My memory is failing me...)

If you are looking for a real reason, then here it is :

Pages 281-286 on degrees of freedom in linearized GR.

Oh, again, don't forget to buy this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Interest Rate Models Theory and Practice In implementing mathematical models for pricing interest rate derivatives one has to address a number of practical issues such as the choice of a satisfactory model, the calibration to market data, the implementation of efficient routines, and so on. This book aims both at explaining rigorously how models work in theory and at suggesting how to implement them for concrete pricing. This is an area that is rarely covered by books on mathematical finance. The book is meant both to help quantitative analysts and advanced traders price and hedge with a sound theoretical apparatus, and to encourage academics to develop a feeling for the practical problems in the interest rate market that can be solved with the use of relatively advanced tools of mathematics and stochastic calculus in particular. Advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers should benefit from seeing how mathematics can be used in concrete financial problems. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Best book on interest rate models
This is the best book available on interest rate models. Very detailed. Much more focused and readable than Rebonato's book. More pragmatic and explicit than Musiela and Rutkowski. Not as theoretical as Hunt and Kennedy. James and Webber also looks very good, but I'm not that familiar with it. All other books have only bits and pieces on interest rates.

The best book I have read on the subject
With all the due respect to the other authors I would say that if one is interested in a good theoretical book whihc is also good on the implementation side then the book of Brigo and Mercurion is definetly the best book I have ever read on the subject.

Anyone interested in implementing the LMM/BGM/MSS model in practice is well advised to read it.

I would just say that this is certainly a must have in the field.

New stuff and nice overview: hard to beat!
In the late nineties I went through Brigo's innovative work on stochastic nonlinear filtering with differential geometry techniques. I was favorably impressed by results and style, particularly in his dissertation and in his 'geometry in present day science' very readable overview. Interesting results are found and nicely told with accurate - but not pointlessly complicated - advanced mathematics for the problems at hand, I reasoned.

I've followed a similar path from control to finance, and having worked with interest rate models, I couldn't help but order this Brigo-Mercurio book. I had high expectations 'cause these two guys are working in a bank on the real thing.

Sure enough I'm not disappointed.

1-factor models are handled with great care, a ton of formulas and recipes are given. I've never seen this kind of analysis of pricing with Gaussian 1-f models. The new upgrade of the CIR model is interesting and accurate. "CIR++" is now my favorite 1-f model. I like the treatment of lognormal 1-f models and the explanation of Monte Carlo and trees -- the flow-chart for Bermudan swaptions is crystal clear! Plots of market implied structures and volatility calibration are useful additions.

The chapter on 2-f extensions has one of the best discussions on volatility, and two tons of useful formulas/recipes. Two dimensional trees!

The HJM chapter size is OK. I agree - the useful models embedded in HJM are short rate models and market models.

Market models - these three chapters alone are worth the book. You'll find yourself nodding as you read the guided tour. They make it look easy all the time. The exposition is focused, clear, intuitive, detailed. There's also new stuff, just check the calibration discussion! Smile modeling begins with a brilliant tour and ends with Brigo-Mercurio's new approach - the mixing dynamics - deserving a whole chapter if expanded.

The detailed explanation on products is a much welcome original addition. Cross currency derivatives!

Quotes - as in Brigo's old work - are a pleasant diversion while reading. The 500 and more pages are a treat given the competitive price.

Still there's room for improvements - more "CIR2++"! Something on 3-f models. Historical estimation of the correlation matrix and low-rank optimized approximations. Expand smile modeling! More hedging. Something on structured products. Cross currency libor model. chapter 9 - other interest rate models - sounds out of place and can be suppressed for other things.

This book rings true and has useful teachings for students, academics and practitioners. Although it requires some background in stochastic calculus, it's hard to beat on the pricing front. Kudos to Brigo and Mercurio! It only harms there aren't enough books like this.

Nicely written overview of interest rate models
This recent book, written by two Italian "quants" Mercurio & Brigo, gives a nice and accessible overview of interest rate models which is a compromise between the practitioner viewpoint, expressed for ex. in Rebonato's book "Interet Rate option models"
and the theoretical viewpoint such as the one in Musiela & Rutkowski.
The authors, themselves PhDs in quantitative finance/ applied maths, wrote this book while working as quants in an Italian bank and this first hand contact with the market gave them a
practical view on the subject which markes this book very interesting.

The book contains a "rational" catalogue of models used in practice ( as opposed to models which are impossible to implement!).

In contrast with academic books on interest rate modeling which deal with HJM formulation, there is a lot of emphasis here on LIBOR and Swap market models
(BGM -Jamshidian models) which reflects the current market practice. This is a positive point since there are not many books with details on implementing and using these "market models".

Part II: Interest rate models in practice is particularly useful because it deals with implementation and calibration which, as any practitioner knows, are important and usually delicate issues.
However calibration issues are dealt with somewhat lightly, especially recent developments on modeling cap/swaption smiles
are not included here.

This book can also be used for a graduate level/PhD course on interest rate models.

There are a lot of numerical examples in the book and mathematics is kept to the necessary level while keeping the
approach both rigorous and understandable.

Overall, it is one of the best books written on the subject.
I highly recommend it to PhD students, quants and researchers interested in this field.

Well written and useful book
In my humble opinion, this is the best book on Interest Rate modeling out there. The writing style is clear and focused and the appendices are fantastic. The book is rigorous but someone with some background in Stochastic Calculus will find it easy to follow. If you need refresher, dont worry the authors have you covered, see the appendix on Stochastic Calculus. Not an introductory book. Very exciting book. ... Read more

Book Description

A revision of the market leader, Kreyszig is known for its comprehensive coverage, careful and correct mathematics, outstanding exercises, helpful worked examples, and self-contained subject-matter parts for maximum teaching flexibility. The new edition provides invitations - not requirements - to use technology, as well as new conceptual problems, and new projects that focus on writing and working in teams. ... Read more

Reviews (59)

To Many Nice Figures and So Little Explanation.
When I started using this textbook for a graduate level engineering mathematics I thought I would "see the light" and had finally come across an author that would help me understand advanced mathematics and its application to real-world problems. Needless to say I was let down. Kreysig offers no explanation for many new and complex concepts and often leaves out helpful background (theory/proofs) necessary to have a full undestanding and skill level necessary to apply the concepts. A case in point is his handling of the Legendre Transforms/Polynomials and Sturm-Liouville Theory. Did I mention that I think it is a bad idea to cover matrices and linear algebra in differnt chapters of the book

When I took ODE/PDE in undergraduate we used the text, Advanced Engineering mathematics by O'neil and at the time I thought this book was difficult and confusing. Althought it was not filled with color figures and graphs it contained many proofs and theorems to explain the concepts. I'm starting to use this book as a reference for those concepts that aren't covered thoroughly enough by Kreysig and now appreciate the O'Neil book more and more everyday.

VERY SOUND! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
It is not unusual for those who failed to pass (or understand) their courses to look for cheap scapegoats. Some have blamed their lecturers, and some have blamed their textbooks. But I am not swayed!
Thus, despite all the negative rantings some reviewers have labelled against this "Advanced Engineering Mathematics", I will advise you to see for yourself. This book is superb! Erwin Kreyszig should be honoured with a twenty-one gun salute, for compiling this outstanding compendium.
The way this book dissected Numerical Methods, Differential Equation, and Vector Calculus, will rouse envy in many academic circles. The same applies to its unsurpassed analyses of Oscillation Matrices, Quantum Symmetries, and Linear Algebra. I wonder why all those condemnations! In fact, I will advise those complainants to go back to primary school.
As its name depicts, this text is an advanced book, and not an introductory one. Still, its author took the necessary pains in tabling an uncomplicated presentation. I will, with great pleasure, recommend it to any Engineering or Science student who needs an advanced mathematics textbook.

Good Reference Guide
This book does provide students, who have taken a first course in differential equations, a good look at Fourier Analysis, Boundary Value Problems, and partial differential equations; however, you might wish to obtain a working knowledge of linear algebra before using this book for the before-mentioned reasons - the chapters dealing with linear algebra (six and seven) are awesome for review, but horrible for the beginning student.
Other than that, the book is a good resource when it comes to the review chapters on ordinary differential equations, multivariable calculus, probability, etc...
This is a recommended book for the engineer who likes to review math on those boring summer days...

Terrible Book
Kreyszig obviously knows what he is talking about, but lacks showing it. It is hard to beleive that Mathematics book so thick has examples that miss complex steps, simply because these steps are deemed 'elementry' by Kreyszig's mathematic standards. The examples are workable, but they only take a few hours of analysing and calculating the multiple lines of mathematics he Kreyszig didn't feel like entering

Excellent
I'm Civilian Engineering and I should admit I love this book. My thesis advisor owns one and I've used it several times. This is not a book for Mathematics, it's for engineers; you'll find whatever you're looking for, but don't expect a whole theory about topics, just the essentials of them. You can find topics from Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability and so on.

I recomend this book to engineers as a consult book, you'll find quick answer to your problems. For students is a must-have which will help you really a lot. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Excellent book
Having taken two experimental design classes with Dr. Montgomery himself, hands down this book is excellent, as is the author himself. A lot of the material that we used in our advanced phD level experimental design class comes from the extra material that is available for free of off the books supplemental website, and there is a great wealth of more advanced material in there that is worth printing off, and there is a lot of supplemental material. So if you feel solid on what is in the textbook, tackle the supplemental material to further delve into DOE topics. The book uses numerous examples using SAS, Minitab and Design-Expert and lots of practice problems, so following along using any of the packages is pretty easy.

Comprehensive Introduction to the Design of Experiments
This text was used in a graduate course on the Design of Experiments. It has a great wealth of examples that span many different fields of industry, from pharmaceuticals to "tool and die" manufacturing. This text, when used along with a statistical software package, made research projects easy to design, implement, analyze and present to others. I found the chapters on reliability, determining sample size for mixed models (random and fixed variables), very helpful in my research.

great DOE book for engineers
Doug Montgomery is an engineer with great statistical training. This enabled him to be a great teacher for statistical practitioners and an author of several excellent applied books in the design and analysis of experimental data and statistical process control. This book is one of the best sources for Design of Experiments for engineers, currently a very important topic in industry. He provides a wealth of information on classical designs and the analysis of variance models. In addition he provides a balanced perspective on the value of Taguchi designs. Other topics covered include response surface methods, evolutionary operation and mixture experiments.

highly regarded book on design for engineers
Doug Montgomery got excellent statistical training at VPI. He also has a wealth of practical experience from his consulting work. His books on regression, statistical design and response surfaces are all well written and understandable to engineers. This 4th edition published in 1997 still contains all the useful information on factorial and fractional factorial designs. Chapter 14 is a wonderful up-to-date chapter that covers important process optimization topics not often covered in traditional design of experiments books. This includes response surface methods, mixture experiments, evolutionary operation and Taguchi methods. It does not require high level mathematics.

A good blend of theory and practical examples.
This book, along with the Box, Hunter, and Hunter book (also available by Wiley) are good references for the experimenter. ... Read more

Book Description

Elementary Statistics: A Brief Version is written for students in the beginning statistics course whose mathematical background is limited to basic algebra. The book uses a nontheoretical approach in which concepts are explained intuitively and supported by examples for your student. There are no formal proofs in the book. The applications are general in nature and the exercises include problems from agriculture, biology, business, economics, education, psychology, engineering, medicine, sociology, and computer science. The learning system found in Elementary Statistics: A Brief Version provides your student with a valuable framework in which to learn and apply concepts! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The best stats book available.
This is by far the best stats book I've found. I actually used this book instead of the one assigned for my graduate course. Everything is explained very clearly from step 1 and on. The book assumes you have very little or no stats knowledge. There are plenty of examples to further clarify each concept, and full explanations are provided. The book is very well-written and the chapters are well connected.

I also found the pictures/graphics extremely helpful, especially in the sections on probability. I can finally make sense of combinations and permutations and other probability concepts.

Also extremely helpful is the way the book explains which formulas to use when, and why they should be used in that instance. This helps to pull everything together and see how many of the concepts relate to one another. I think this is key to understanding stats.

I've gone from fearing stats to actually enjoying it, all because it now makes sense thanks in large part to this book.

Excellent Book - A must have
I have read many statistics books but never one I understand on the first read. This book is for the true beginner. Excellent.

easy step to understand statistics
easy steps approaching to statistics and good examples to practice the text.

Excellent presentations and examples!
This books has great presentations, diagrams, and examples of concepts in elementary statistics and probability. It is thorough, yet easy to read. Students will enjoy examples that they can relate to. ... Read more

Book Description

Stata is a powerful data analysis software. This handbook was designed to bridge the gap between textbooks and Stata's own documentation. In this intermediary role, STATISTICS WITH STATA uses easy to follow tutorials to demonstrate how to use Stata to accomplish some of the most common statistical tasks. While Stata's user documentation is over 4,000 pages, this tidy manual is just 400 pages, and introduces students and practitioners to both basic and advanced features of Stata. ... Read more

Book Description

Presented here together for the first time are the greatest of the ancient Chinese classics of strategic thought: The Complete Art of War. Probably the most famous work of strategy ever written, Sun Tzu's Art of War has sold millions of copies in many languages around the world. Lost for more than 2000 years and only recently recovered, the Military Methods of Sun Pin (Sun Tzu's great-grandson) is a brilliant elaboration on his ancestor's work. Only The Complete Art of War brings the wisdom of these two ancient sages into a single volume and gives the reader a unique opportunity to master the essentials of Chinese thought on strategy, organization and leadership.

The Sun family writings on strategy have proven their value through the ages, and they continue to reward careful study. By unveiling the complex, often unexpected, interrelationships of armies locked in battle, they reveal the enduring principles of success in the struggle of life itself. With a practical index to the essential principles of strategy, and Ralph Sawyer's thoughtful chapter-by-chapter commentaries, The Complete Art of War  is designed to bring the reader new insights into the nature of human conflict.

Whether it is playing the game of politics or building a successful marriage, closing a deal or managing a large organization, making war or even making peace, The Complete Art of War  stands as one of the ultimate guides to a deeper understanding of human affairs. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

The teachings of the greatest military geniuses of all time.
Sun Tzu collected his teachings into the ancient Chinese treatise on military strategy known as "The Art of War" about twenty-five hundred years ago. Afterward his teachings were passed down through the Sun family, or a group of disciples, who edited or expounded upon the original writings until they assumed their current form. Sun Pin was the great-grandson of Sun Tzu, and he used the teachings of his brilliant ancestor to develop his Treatise "Military Methods". This wonderful translation by Ralph D. Sawyer includes both of these ancient texts.

"The Art of War" has been studied the world over by military, political and business leaders seeking to understand the nature of human conflict in all it's forms. Although thousands of years old, the teachings of Sun Tzu remain relevant even today. The maxims of Sun Tzu have been applied by students of "The Art of War" to such modern conflicts as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Sun Tzu's teachings range from the seemingly simple, such as "Someone unfamiliar with the mountains and forests cannot advance the army", to the more complex and thought provoking, such as "In order await the disordered. In tranquility await the clamorous. This is the way to control the mind." The manual covers such diverse topics as training, supplies, terrain, the seasons and the use of spys, and includes detailed commentary by China's greatest military leaders through the centuries.

"The Art of War" should be read by anyone who studies military history or strategy, and is part of the curriculum of many of the world's military academies. Studying the teachings of Sun Tzu can help you to form strategies for conflict resolution or negotiating in business, political or social endeavors through a greater understanding of human interaction.

Sun Tzu and Sun Pin are timeless
The Art of War is the oldest and best military treatise this world has seen. It is amazing how Sun Tzu can talk about strategy and warfare in thirteen short chapters. His book is just the best about competition and strategy. And now we get to Sun Pin, the military strategist. I have awesome respect for him. He was betrayed and mutilated by his best friend, and still, he survived. He defeated his nemesis in a great strategic way that Sun Tzu would have mostly likely done. These two are the best and if they were in this world today, they would won every war that we fight, by their ability to adapt. If you want to get Ancient Strategy and Chinese Culture, get this book.

Excellent
The publishing of both Sun Tzu's and Sun Pin's works together makes for a valuable purchase. I've found that this translation is also quite easy to follow, and the comments assist with interpretation. These works represent awesome insights into the nature of warfare.

suffering
The text does not remotely fill the entire page to lengthen the book and suggest a happier price. Sun Pin's addition is severely garbled because the original text was damaged and it's contadictory. The most likely reason that Sun Pin's methods were forgotten and preserved only in a tomb was because (GEE GOLLY) people believed it wasn't worth reading. The commentary uses the word obvious extremely often among various other uneeded lengthening exercises.The author describes himself as an imaginative entrepenuer.(Sun Tzu flirts with perfection)

good additional material
A nice attempt to include additional material about
the ancient chinese strategic art. I stress that it is art
since there are no analytical material here.
But the text is abridged and the translation could be improved. ... Read more

Book Description

David Howell's practical approach focuses on the context of statistics in behavioral research, with an emphasis on looking at data before jumping into a test. This provides students with an understanding of the logic behind the statistics: why and how certain methods are used rather than just doing techniques by rote. Students move beyond number crunching to discover the meaning of statistical results and how they relate to the research questions being asked. FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES contains an abundance of real data and research studies as a base and moves through an analysis of data. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A clear and comprehensive introductory statistics text
I have been using this text for Levels 1, 2, and 3 social sciences statistics teaching in Britain and abroad for over 8 years now. Although I have tried using other introductory texts, I have yet to find a text as comprehensive and as clearly written as this.

The worst stats book for the social sciences
I hate to be so critical, but I must agree with my colleague who described his/her harrowing experience with this textbook. I have two rules about learning statistics: no one is ever above a review of the most basic topics and an author/professor can never go wrong by providing a variety of examples within the same topic area.

superbly-written and serious intorduction
I've been using the 3rd edition for several years now, and I just think it's an extraordinarily clear, concise, and well-written book. Howell is better at presenting the basic statistical concepts (of ANOVA, for example) than any other author I've seen.

Other introductory books (such as Runyon's "Fundamentals of Behavioral Statistics") may provide more advanced treatments or cover more material, but in general they end up being long-winded and unfocused. Howell's book is crisp.

And in case you're wondering about the title, statistical methods for the behavioral sciences are not different than statistical methods in any other quantitative discipline. It's just that Howell draws his examples from psychology, sociology, etc., and may make mention of some of the conventions used by researchers in these fields.

A rare jewel
This may be the single best textbook I have ever used, or it may just seem that way because of the difficulty most stat textbooks have in explaining their concepts. Unfortunately, I only discovered it after two semesters of incoherent text books and bad teaching; it was only later, through his book, that I got the entire picture. Howell starts with the "why?" of statistical tests (necssary, but often not done), takes you through the equations relatively painlessly, and provides realistic commentary on actual uses, strengths and weaknesses, and controversies surrounding statistical techniques. I now tutor in statistics (really), and I just rely on Howell for the simplest and best method of explication. Now, if only he wrote an advanced text...

An outstanding introductory text in statistics.
This text is the most clearly written and useful of four different introductory statistics texts that I have examined. Its emphasis on insight rather than rote learning of formulae makes the subject easily understood and retained.

This book is a "keeper".

The author stresses the use of computers discusses several statistics programs available. He also thoughtfully provides exercise data for input to several a computer program. It is unfortunate, however, that he failed to mention the most powerful of these programs on the market today. I hope that he will examine this in future editions. ... Read more

Book Description

Highly praised for its clarity and great examples, Weiers's text takes an informal, student-oriented approach to fundamental statistical concepts. Non-technical terminology is used to describe statistical concepts, which are presented in the context of contemporary applications and student experience. Realizing that many business students are intimidated by this course, Weiers provides numerous learning aids and interesting applications drawn from real-world experience common to many students. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The best statistics book ever
Finally a statistics book that isn't just a math book with no practical implication.

This book really helped me at my job to make decision calculations. ... Read more

Book Description

Get a sound fix on the expanding universe of telecom

Explore the vast telecom landscape -- from standards and protocols to premise, access and transport technologies. Far more than an acronym-studded quick fix, Telecom Crash Course is a true tutorial that offers you context, connections, and the wisdom to quickly grasp key technologies, including wireless Internet, optical networking, 3G, IP, protocol layer, PSTN, ATM, spread spectrum, GPRS, and SIP. Author Steven Shepard includes lively stories that deliver important points about the markets that drive the technologies. You get rigorous technical accuracy, with explanations of each technology's economic importance. Here’s your chance to decipher the alphabet soup of telecom acronyms -- not just what they stand for, but what they mean and how they can generate profits. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Excellent Introduction, in the opinion of a Telecom newcomer
This is a fantastic book if you want an overview that focuses on technical and some business aspects of telecommunications, and are someone that enjoys reading more techie-oriented material. (For the record, I am an MechE by training who is now working for one of the companies mentioned in the book, so this really was my entire Intro course to Telecom, and I plan to continue my learning. This book was an excellent guide for future, more in-depth subjects to pursue.)

The book does an excellent job of being ubiquitous and covering all the aspects of the telecom field that you've ever heard about. At the same, I found it easy to skip around in reading chapters, based on my own priorities in buying the book. The chapters are divided very logically into sections on the Telephone network, Access technologies, Transport options, Protocols, etc. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you will after reading this book :).
One of my favorite aspects of the books is that the author is very good at using diagrams to supplement his text, which can be rare in more engineering/technical books. The whole picture-worth-a-thousand-words idea, especially if you take the time to go through the diagrams.
Yes, the text can require a few read-throughs - but telecommunications itself is a dense field that really requires one to be patience in reading and gain understanding of the technology. There *is* a lot of detail stuffed through out the chapters, and perhaps not everyone will care to know everything -- but that is alright, there is no harm in skipping the nitty-gritty of sections that do not interest you.

Please, please, please do not let the bad reviews of this book discourage you from checking it out. I just finished reading the entire book, and wanted to log on to share my high opinion of it.

a scatterbrained mess...
First off, a word of warning: Pay heed to the reader's words from Woburn Mass, all of the 5 star reviews of this book actually are from people who are mentioned in the book's acknowledgements.

I purchased this book mostly to learn about telephony. I already know a lot about data networking, and I wanted to expand my knowledge of other aspects of telecom and optical WAN technologies like SONET and SDH. I knew I was in for trouble after reading about 50 pages. Have you ever read a technical book where you had a really hard time absorbing the info, even when you re-read the same paragraphs over and over again? Well, chances are it's not your fault, it's the author's! I can say this for sure about this book, b/c it described stuff that I already know about, and after reading it, I was more confused than before!

Part of the problem is the author's complete lack of organizational logic. On page 2, he describes all of the "techno-jargon" that permeates the telecom industry, and "often gets in the way of the relatively straightforward task of learning how all this stuff actually works". I totally agree, jargon should not obfuscate. BUT, if you're going to point out this common pitfall, you best avoid it yourself, and Shepard does not! He's all over the board, dropping terms and concepts with little or no explanation. About 10 pages in, it's already a muddled mess.

The mess gets worse. He discusses all of these different approaches to multiplexing, but doesn't take the time to explain what the basic process of multiplexing is all about until page 200! Throughout the entire book, he constantly refers to switching versus routing, but he doesn't explain the basic processes until the final 2 pages! These are just a couple examples that stuck out in my mind.

To be sure, there is some useful information to be gleaned here, but it's hard to sort out from all the "noise". Shepard gets into way too much detail on certain subjects and not enough on others, without any discernable logic. For example, he spends several pages discussing how fiber cables are manufactured, but spends less than one page discussing the basic processes of routing and switching. However, given the topic of the book, isn't the latter subject a lot more applicable? As far as I know, telecom professionals don't need to make the actual fiber cables.

This book is too technical for someone who doesn't know anything about telecom, and it's not practical enough for someone who knows a lot. If you're in between like me, you stand to gain a decent high-level overview of the industry, but the details are murky at best.

Excellent Telecom Overview
As an industry outsider with limited technical experience, I found this book informative, easy-to-follow, and entertaining. My compliments to the author for a job well done.

entertaining but lightweight
The author has a knack for seeing the big picture and coming up with funny metaphors to describe it (see Austrailian rules football in the other review). Also, he has a lot of friends in the business - four of the 5 star reviews below are from people listed in the acknowledgements. There is technical material here but the selection is sort of random, so you may or may not find a detailed explanation of a subject you're looking for. But his brief discussion of JPEG compression was so absurdly wrong it made me less enthusiastic about reading through the rest of his technical presentations.

I won't say this book is worthless, because he does have a marketer's flair for making business sense of technology and predicting trends, and there is probably enough material here to fill a few good magazine articles. One of them, on the psychology of computer hacking (inserted in the middle of a discussion of the OSI protocol stack), unfortunately has nothing to do with telecom. Also, the mini-Esperanto/English dictionary is entertaining but probably should have been left for the author's web site. I mean, I agree that's funny, but there are those of us who paid for a book on telecom.

The complete telecom overview
If I were starting out in the telecommuncations field, this would be the first book that I'd recommend that anyone read. It gives you a high level look at: what protocols do and are used for; what the primary access technologies are; a great description of the telephony system that provides the main infrastructure of the Internet; and, the primary transport technologies that are being used today.
Because this is a "crash course" book don't look for great detail in every topic, however, if you are looking for a compendium that covers the telecomm field all in one book then this is the book you need. My networking background has been mostly in the copper and fiber optic technologies, so I found the sections about the new 802.11 wireless technologies the most interesting. But some of things that I found unique for a book like this and most fascinating are the pictures of scenes and equipment taken inside of actual telephone central offices and the anecdotes about real life happenings in the telecommuncations world. For those of you interested in the state of the telecommuncations industry, you may want to go straight to the last chapter entitled "Final Thoughts" where the author gives some very interesting comments about the industry on a global view.
So if you have anything to do with telecommunications, be it as a user, CTO, IT manager, technology student, technology teacher, marketing or sales person of telecom or buyer of telecom, then this book should have a place on your desk. ... Read more