Reviews (9)

Great book for practical applications
I bought this book hoping to learn DOE using Taguchi Methods and apply what I learned to real life problems in my work. It was very helpful. Not only did it help me learn the methods I needed to perform my testing at work but I did it in only 8 days of reading. The book was very easy to read and the examples helped me understand everything I needed to know to apply this method to real situations. A great buy for anyone looking to learn Taguchi Methods.

An Introduction to More Effective Experimentation
The challenge that all research directors and senior scientists face is that virtually all scientists are originally trained to believe that the only proper way to conduct an experiment is to vary only one factor at a time while holding all other variables fixed. This belief, which can be shown mathematically to be totally incorrect, has been a drag on the scientific community for decades, causing experimental science to be much less productive than it should be. In fact, by properly designing experiments in which several factors are varied in a carefully thought out, predetermined pattern, much more information can be obtained with far fewer experiments.

What Dr. Roy has achieved in his book on experimental design is to clearly explain why this is so and to provide the tools which allows his readers to overcome their ingrained beliefs and adopt a more effective method of designing their own experimental programs.

Of particular interest is his discussion of experimental design using orthogonal arrays (Chapter 4) for it is in this part of the book that the full power of modern approaches to experimentation become most evident. Here, he illustrates how a set of as few as eight experiments can be used to determine how three presumable independent factors, such as time, temperature and concentration, can be studied to obtain detailed information not only on how each factor individually effects the quality of the final product, but also on the extent to which the factors interact.

Historically, learning this type of technique for designing experiments has been a daunting task since somewhat tedious mathematically manipulations are required for both the design of the experiment and the analyses of the resulting data. However, included with Dr. Roy's book is complete software which eliminates the need for the experimenter to either manually solve the handful of equations needed to extract the results in useful form, or to develop custom spreadsheets in an attempt to automate the process. The software is easy to use and includes all of the tables and data which are used in the book to illustrate the principles of experimental design. The software is also capable of assisting the experimenter in designing sets of up to eight concurrent experiments, rapidly analyzing the data and generating graphical and tabular presentations which greatly aid in the interpretation of the results.

This is an extremely useful book which can have a major beneficial effect on the productivity of any laboratory engaged in experimental process research such as crystal growth, chemical synthesis or manufacturing. By allowing the reader to overcome his innate aversion to varying more than one experimental factor at a time, the book makes it possible for the reader to become a much more productive scientist or engineer and become a role model for his coworkers to emulate.

Must have for Quality Control Professionals and Educators
First, I completely agree with all the good things mentioned in the other reviews, but wish to add the following comments:

1. The discussion group (usenet) hosted by Dr Roy is fantastic. If by chance you don't "get it" from reading the book, a simple question posted to the usenet frequently gets you an answer, often within a few hours (its a vocal crowd!!). Many times, the author himself responds to usenet questions. And, on at least one instance, after I repeatdly asked my question, he began exchanging emails with me, which then led to some pleasant phone disscussions.

2. User friendly software and support. See above.

3. Taguichi is frequently attacked by full blown Design of Experiments statistical types who miss the whole point. I strongly encourage all professionals interested in gauging quality control to try out his books and the free software downloads....

An excellent book with powerful software and support......

Reads like a winner, looks like a winner, performs likes a winner....... need I say more...

Auburn Alabama

User friendly
Dr.Roy's book is amazing. He has covered almost everything you need to know about the Taguchi method - even meticulous things. This book will suite both for beginners as well as for experts. The CD which comes along with this book is very helpful in understanding the concept behind the analysis with more than 50 examples. If at all you are looking for a book about Taguchi design of Experiments - I highly recommend one and all to buy Dr.Roy's book and benefit through his work.
I started as a beginner and now Iam an expert in Taguchi analysis - and the credit goes to Dr.Roy - he also helps personally in answering your questions.
Thank you very much Dr.Roy.
Three CHEERS to Dr.Roy!

Brief review of DOE using Taguchi approach by R. Roy
Dr. Roy has been able to translate into everyday language some of the most difficult concepts of the Taguchi methodology. Whereas the book does not provide the reader with much theoretical background, it doeas provide ample examples and practical approaches to the methodology. Excellent sections are the discussions about the OAs and the modified arrays as well as the ANOVA. The references to the CD ROM are well placed.

The shortcomings of the book are the very poor screens from the software package. In fact, in some cases they are unreadable. Another shortcoming is the absence of any discussion of tolerance design using the Taguchi methodology.

Overall: a good book for reference. ... Read more

Book Description

Now the omnibus edition Numerical Recipes Code CDROM contains all the source code from the brand-new Numerical Recipes in C++ and the Numerical Recipes in C++ Example Book, including a stand-alone class library, in addition to all the source code for the routines and examples from: Numerical Recipes in Fortran 77: The Art of Scientific Computing (Second Edition); Numerical Recipes in Fortran 90: The Art of Parallel Scientific Computing; Numerical Recipes in C: The Art of Scientific Computing (Second Edition); Numerical Recipes in Pascal: The Art of Scientific Computing; Numerical Recipes Routines and Examples in BASIC plus the complete public domain SLATEC Common Mathematical Library, a freely redistributable collection of over 1400 mathematical and statistical routines, and many other extras. The ISO 9660 standard format CD-ROM can be used by Windows (all versions) and Macintosh compatible computers.HTML files included on the CD-ROM allow the use of any Web browser to navigate among all the program files. Included with the CD-ROM is a license to use all the copyrighted Numerical Recipes code on a single Windows or Macintosh compatible computer. ... Read more

Book Description

This book illustrates basic statistical concepts with extensive applications in engineering and scientific contexts. The book includes optional theoretical exercises, allowing readers who choose to emphasize theory to do so with requiring additional materials. The fourth edition contains SAS and MINITAB computer printout results for all analyses performed—plus new exercises based on magazine and journal articles and news reports. KEY TOPICS: A section on "Detecting Normal Distributions" (Chapter 5) gives readers insights on when it is reasonable to assume that underlying data is normally distributed. There is a comprehensive example on model building (Chapter 13) and emphasis on the regression approach to a Nova (also presents the traditional approach). There are two sections discussing principles of experimental design, i.e., noise-reducing and volume-increasing design, a section on "Total Quality Management" and coverage of statistical computing. There are optional, calculus-based theoretical exercises, and real data sets, extracted from scientific studies, are provided in an appendix. Numerical answers to all applied exercises are included in an appendix—giving readers immediate feedback on their work. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good for intuition
I think this book is very good for grasping the concepts and intuition behind the mathematical formalisms. Perhaps it should be used with another more theoretical book (Meyer, for instance). It is useful not only for engineering students.

Good book without the unnecessary confusion added
The author adds unnecessary confusion by ignoring variable naming conventions. In some places he uses "y" as the independent variable name, while in other places, he uses "x". I have never seen f(y) on the vertical axes but yet the author uses P(y) on the vertical axes. It seems the only equation he got correct, according to convention, was the historical y=mx+b. This book should be dreastically updated to conform to standard variable naming conventions. After eliminating the variable naming confusion, I think this book will be an excellent book to read and learn ... Read more

Book Description

Comprised of three information-packed parts, Pairs Trading presents an in-depth look at the various aspects of these strategies and provides quantitative tools to assist in their analysis. The first part of this comprehensive resource sets the context for the rest of the book by introducing preliminary material on some key topics, including time series, factor models, and Kalman filtering.

After presenting the broad ideas and concepts of this trading method, Pairs Trading delves into two different versions of pairs trading in the equity markets–statistical arbitrage pairs trading and risk arbitrage. Part II of this book details statistical arbitrage pairs trading, which is a relative value arbitrage on two securities based on the premise that there is a long-run equilibrium between the prices of the stocks comprising the pair. Part III moves on to illustrate the trading techniques and strategies associated with risk arbitrage–the widely practiced arbitrage technique that involves pairs trading arising in the context of corporate events, especially mergers and acquisitions.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Pairs Trading provides a framework that will allow you to boost the bottom line of any portfolio. ... Read more

Book Description

Amstat News asked three review editors to rate their top five favorite books in the September 2003 issue. The first edition of Applied Econometric Time Series was among those chosen.

This new edition reflects recent advances in time-series econometrics, such as out-of-sample forecasting techniques, non-linear time-series models, Monte Carlo analysis, and bootstrapping. Numerous examples from fields ranging from agricultural economics to transnational terrorism illustrate various techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

An Elementary Book
The book is an introduction to time series and covers ARMA, VAR Unit roots and Basic Cointegration, is a good book for people that want learn time series quickly, the book has some elementary theory of time series and many examples and exercises, the computacional problems needs some of RATS ...the book describes time series without advanced mathematics.

An understandable and fun introduction to time series
I bought Walter Enders book several years ago, when I was an undergraduate student. It's a nice manual. Perhaps you won't see the statistical demonstration of the unit-root (Dickey-Fuller) test, but you will understand why it doesn't follow a standard probability distribution and you'll know how to use it. It's the same idea with Perron's unit-root with structural change test. The author introduces the reader to the main topics of interest in the time series field; ARIMA, VAR, ARCH, unit roots, cointegration, and distinction between deterministic trends and stochastic trends. This work is done through an understandable and fun text. You will enjoy reading the book. Besides that, the author illustrates each topic with an economic example perfectly presented and, in general, very interesting (business cycles, PPP, foreign exchange Market efficiency, Unit roots in GNP for example). I particularly enjoyed the unit root and the perron's test chapters. I used them a lot in my final work in college. Here, you will have the simplest explanation of ARCH processes. As someone else said, this is only an introductory book (for applied econometricians it should be seen as an excellent and very intuitive cookbook); if you are interested in time series, you can begin here, but you should then reading more advanced books, such as Hamilton's Time Series Analysis. A great combination of introductory manuals can be achieved if you have Johnston and Dinardo "Econometric models".

a good place to start
This is the best place to start to learn time series econometrics for anyone who has in his background only basic econometrics, calculus and matrix algebra. The reason is that Enders makes very complicated subject to look rather simple. This book shows how and why time-series is different from standard econometrics. It covers a lot of models employed in time series: ARMA, VAR, Unit Roots, Cointegration and Error-Correction. It proposes simple strategies that applied researchers can follow making their treatment of time-series more or less adequate. However, you would underestimate complexity of time series after reading this book. I would recommend to combine it at least with Hamilton's book.

The Chiang of the time series
As the other reviewers pointed out, the greatest quality of the Enders's book is its readability. It is, most certainly, a very good introduction to the topic. It is getting old, though. The developments in the time series literature have been pretty fast and a new edition would certainly be a good idea.

A Practical Book
Starting with the Difference Equations (Ch 1), Enders will walk you through practical methods involved in time series.

This is a good introductory book in time series. But, it has some practical aspects. For example, in Chapter 3, the yen/dollar exchange rate model is cited, indicating non-random walk behavior in this exchange market so that an efficient market hypothesis may not apply here. Then the business cycles are discussed. As the cycles in exchange markets are what some technical traders look for, an approach like this is valuable to working analysts. ... Read more

Book Description

Statistics is a subject of many uses and surprisingly few effective practitioners. The traditional road to statistical knowledge is blocked, for most, by a formidable wall of mathematics. The approach in An Introduction to the Bootstrap avoids that wall. It arms scientists and engineers, as well as statisticians, with the computational techniques they need to analyze and understand complicated data sets. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A great book to learn the Bootstrap method from
This is the best book to learn about the bootstrap. Clear style, no empty verbiage, good problems, excellent examples are some of the qualities that make this exposition of Bootstrap great. The math level is minimal - some basic statistics (perhaps at the level of Wackerly et al's book) - is all that's required.

Not for Engineers
This book provides a good coverage of the very useful bootstrap method. However, post-graduation as an engineer, I find that the method is neither well known nor happily accepted by engineers outside of academia. In the corporate world, bootstrapping is left up to degreed statisticians, as this is what management trusts. As a mechanical engineer, I find that simpler statistical techniques, even if they include broad assumptions, are much more widely accepted. If you are an engineer, leave this up to the statisticians. If you are a statistician, this book is an acceptable source for learning bootstrap.

Great introduction by the originator of the bootstrap
Brad Efron wrote the key paper rediscovering the bootstrap and putting it in its proper place with other resampling techniques in his famous 1979 paper in the Annals of Statistics. His work was a breakthrough that has now led to hundreds of other publications and several books on the bootstrap and more general resampling procedures by himself, his students and many other statisticians. In fact I am working on a book with goals similar to what he and Rob Tibshirani achieve in this monograph. It is a concise and accurate presentation of the bootstrap and its wide variety of applications and is very much up to the state-of-the-art in this rapidly growing area of statistics. It is written in an intuitive fashion and avoids much of the mathematics (Edgeworth expansions etc.) which are needed to provide formal proof that the bootstrap does what it is intended to do. Provides most of the important references up through 1993. For a similar treatment that is more current, see Davison and Hinkley (1997). Bootstrap Methods and their Application. Those interested in the theory and formal mathematics should consult Hall (1992). The Bootstrap and Edgeworth Expansion.

wonderful, interesting book
that's a very simple and clear book about bootstrapping They consider bootstrapping as a way to estimate confidence intervals and other properties of a statistical distribution. Its mainadvantages are a) it requires no knolwedge of the actual distribution(e.g., it does not have to be normal) b) in principle, it can be used with any statistics method and any solution. ... Read more

Book Description

A veteran GE manager explains the tools of Six Sigma--in plain English

This is the first simple, low-level guide to using the powerful statistical tools of Six Sigma to solve real-world problems. Warren Brussee, a Six Sigma manager who helped his teams generate millions of dollars in savings, shows how to plot, interpret, and validate data for a Six Sigma project. The basic statistical tools in the book can be applied to manufacturing, sales, marketing, process, equipment design, and more. Best of all, no background in statistics is required to start improving quality and initiating cost-saving improvements right away.

• Features dozens of Six Sigma statistical problem-solving case studies
• Presents a simplified form of the most common Six Sigma tools
• Simplifies Greenbelt training with one concise reference
• Explains how to use Excel to make Six Sigma problem-solving calculations
• Includes all the basic Six Sigma formulas and tables

Book Description

Liquid markets generate hundreds or thousands of ticks (the minimum change in price a security can have, either up or down) every business day. Data vendors such as Reuters transmit more than 275,000 prices per day for foreign exchange spot rates alone. Thus, high-frequency data can be a fundamental object of study, as traders make decisions by observing high-frequency or tick-by-tick data. Yet most studies published in financial literature deal with low frequency, regularly spaced data. For a variety of reasons, high-frequency data are becoming a way for understanding market microstructure. This book discusses the best mathematical models and tools for dealing with such vast amounts of data.
This book provides a framework for the analysis, modeling, and inference of high frequency financial time series. With particular emphasis on foreign exchange markets, as well as currency, interest rate, and bond futures markets, this unified view of high frequency time series methods investigates the price formation process and concludes by reviewing techniques for constructing systematic trading models for financial assets. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

From the experts in the field
Michel Dacorogna and the team at the former Olsen & Associates are well-known experts in the field of foreign exchange rate data analysis, and their book provides us with a vast, useful source of information. Unfortunately for students and other beginners, the book is written like a compilation of papers and review articles, the opposite of pedagogical, and with an awful choice of 'computerese' notation (MA(t,n)=sum(EMA(t',k)... etc) that makes Boudhaud-Potters look easy in comparison. More to the point, even their noncomputerese notation is difficult to follow. I hope for a very different second edition written pedagogically for students of this growing and important field. On the positive side, data analyses are performed using logarithmic returns, not price increments. Workers in the field who consult this text will find it helpful.

For the new millenium...that's what we need.
The book covers a wide range of topics related to high-frequency data in Finance. There is a very detailed approach to tackle a huge amount of data and to deal with its based stylized facts. The book triggers the reader's desire to update his knowledge in the field of finance.

More Than An Introduction
This one of the few books on high frequency finance is a most welcome to the literature. The book is useful not only for people who are new to the subject but also for researchers in the field since it is a most uniform treatment of many topics. From adaptive data cleaning (chapter 4) to intraday and weekly seasonality (chapter 6) and real time trading models (chapter 11), it covers a broad range of topics specific to high frequency financial time series analysis. Chapters on volatility modeling (Chapter 8), forecasting (chapter 9) and correlation and multivariate risk (chapter 10) are enlightening especially for risk exposure analysis and risk management purposes. Finally, the the extensive bibliography is a precious source for those who would like to explore certain topics in detail. I highly recommend it for practitioners as well as researchers in the field. ... Read more

Book Description

Statistical ideas have been integral to the development of epidemiology and continue to provide the tools needed to interpret epidemiological studies. Although epidemiologists do not need a highly mathematical background in statistical theory to conduct and interpret such studies, they do need more than an encyclopedia of "recipes."Statistics for Epidemiology achieves just the right balance between the two approaches, building an intuitive understanding of the methods most important to practitioners and the skills to use them effectively. It develops the techniques for analyzing simple risk factors and disease data, with step-by-step extensions that include the use of binary regression. It covers the logistic regression model in detail and contrasts it with the Cox model for time-to-incidence data. The author uses a few simple case studies to guide readers from elementary analyses to more complex regression modeling. Following these examples through several chapters makes it easy to compare the interpretations that emerge from varying approaches.Written by one of the top biostatisticians in the field, Statistics for Epidemiology stands apart in its focus on interpretation and in the depth of understanding it provides. It lays the groundwork that all public health professionals, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians need to successfully design, conduct, and analyze epidemiological studies. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding
I had a chance to read this book cover to cover. All I can say is "absolutely outstanding", short of calling it a historical masterpiece in the field. Very rarely do I encounter an epidemiology or biostatistic textbook that reads so well. It is optimally reader friendly; the author appears to have such a talent in explaining some most sophisticated epidemiological and statistical concepts in such a simplified language. Yet he does not sacrifice the inclusion of some very advanced epidemiological and statistical concepts. New concepts such as causal graphs and instrumental variables are also included and explained beautifully. I strongly recommend this book to all early to intermediate graduate students majoring in Epidemiology. Established epidemiologists may wish to read this book to refresh and update their knowledge. I hope the author writes more textbooks with the same style. ... Read more

Book Description

Why make statistics harder than it has to be?Lind/Marchal/Mason: STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES IN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, 11/e is a perennial market best seller due to its comprehensive coverage of statistical tools and methods delivered in a student friendly, step-by-step format.The text is non-threatening and presents concepts clearly and succinctly with a conversational writing style.All statistical concepts are illustrated with solved applied examples immediately upon introduction. Modern computing tools and applications are introduced, but the text maintains a focus on presenting statistics content as oppose to technology or programming methods, and the eleventh edition continues as a ‘students’ text with increased emphasis on interpretation of data and results.lts. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Good Book
This was a useful book and had helpful examples using excel. I had hoped that it would have had examples using the TI83 calculator but other than that this was a good book for statistics.

GOOD Stats book
Many examples. The formulas were easily explainable and understandable. However, I had hoped that it would have provided additional uses on the calculator like the TI83 - but the CD that accompanies this book was well done to help you do additional excercises on excel. So I give this book 5 stars!

Not a bad book
First of all, I would like to say that this is not a bad book, but I personally found that many of the examples were a little hard to follow. I felt that in many cases steps seemed to be left out, and it was assumed that you would know how to get to these points in the examples that were shown in the book. Unfortunately in my case the professor teaching our statistics class really does not seem to care to follow the material in the book. He's not a bad buy, but I'm not so sure he should be teaching statistics. In addition we use Microsoft Excel and the Megastat add-in on some of the example problems. So what happens is that the answers I get vary depending on whether I follow the book, my professor, or the Megastat program. All of this adds up to massive confusion on my part, and on the part of my fellow classmates.

The Paperback, International Ed. is Great
The paperback international edition is the best deal out there! It will save you a load of cash and is EXACTLY the same content wise as the hardback USA edition. As far as the quality of the textbook goes I'm not exactly a math minded person and this book seems to explain stuff fairly well or at least as good as Quantitative Methods can be explained.

Excellent Book!
Reading this Book helps anyone understand all Basic Statistics; this allows continue with more advanced textbooks. I recommend it to all, who need to start up with essential statistics and need a friendly, introductory but very efficient approach! ... Read more

Book Description

This book is aimed at the reader who wishes to gain a working knowledge of time series and forecasting methods as applied in economics, engineering, and the natural and social sciences. The book assumes knowledge only of basic calculus, matrix algebra and elementary statistics. This second edition contains detailed instructions on the use of the new totally windows-based computer package ITSM2000, the student version of which is included with the text. Expanded treatments are also given of several topics treated only briefly in the first edition. These include regression with time series errors, which plays an important role in forecasting and inference, and ARCH and GARCH models, which are widely used for the modeling of financial time series. These models can be fitted using the new version of ITSM. The core of the book covers stationary processes, ARMA and ARIMA processes, multivariate time series and state-space models, with an optional chapter on spectral analysis. Additional topics include the Burg and Hannan-Rissanen algorithms, unit roots, the EM algorithm, structural models, generalized state-space models with applications to time series of count data, exponential smoothing, the Holt-Winters and ARAR forecasting algorithms, transfer function models and intervention analysis. Brief introductions are also given to cointegration and to non-linear, continuous-time and long-memory models. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Great book for a great price
This is one of those books that you can't find much cons to it. The book is inexpensive, and it's unbelievably lightweight. The material is rich, and yet easy to understand. The author actually brings you step by step from elementary to theorectical proofs.

excellent introduction for students and practitioners
In contrast to their graduate text "Time Series: Theory and Methods" this book is more elementary and introductory and is pitched at the advanced undergraduate level requiring only calculus, elementary statistics and matrix algebra. It gives very good coverage to a wide variety of time series models and includes some nonstationary models. In this second edition the chapter on nonstationary models includes the latest coverage of ARCH and GARCH models presented in a way that I found very accessible.

Computations are done with ITSM and in this edition the ITSM 2000 version 7.0 edition is included on a CD so that students can reproduce the authors' calculations and run analyses of their own.

Another nice feature of the text that distinguishes it from other texts at this level is the introduction of multivariate time series, coverage of state space models, chaos and cointegration. Ideas are illustrated with examples. Important theory is discussed but is kept brief and theorems and proofs are not given to the extent of their other more theoretical text.

Excellent introduction on time series analysis
Very good introductory book to ARMA models. Full of real-life examples that provide some intuitive insight about the issues that may arise when modelling time series and forecasting. Requires some initial knowledge in statistics and algebra but if you're involved in time series modelling, it should be your first book.

Best introduction to time series analysis
Very good introductory book to ARMA models. Full of real-life examples that provide some intuitive insight about the issues that may arise when modelling time series and forecasting. Requires some initial knowledge in statistics and algebra but if you're involved in time series modelling, it should be your first book. ... Read more

Book Description

First published in 1998, Financial Models Using Simulation and Optimization quickly became one of the most widely used references for the application of simulation and optimization techniques to financial problems.Now, author Wayne Winston has done it again with a totally new volume!Financial Models II is packed with real-life examples that demonstrate how @RISK, Evolver and Excel can be used to make better financial decisions.Winston's straightforward, step-by-step approach makes his innovative techniques accessible to anyone who uses Microsoft Excel.

Topics covered include:

o Modeling future stock prices and hedging stock price and interest rate risk.Examples include Value At Risk (VAR), incorporating analyst forecasts, correlating stock forecasts, and bootstrapping.

o Portfolio optimization, including minimizing a portfolio's risk, finding the Efficiency Frontier, minimizing the probability of loss, and maximizing the Sharpe Ratio.

o Valuing a firm or a stock price, including modeling key drivers of firm value, incorporating simulation into Proforma models, forecasting income of a corporation, and modeling profitability of a new product.

o Real options and options pricing analysis, including valuing options by arbitrage methods, Black-Scholes pricing, estimating volatility using the historical and implied volatility approaches, option pricing using the risk neutral approach, binomial and lognormal pricing models.

o Pricing and marketing models, including optimal product bundling, price response to currency fluctuations, conjoint analysis, and discrete choice analysis.

o Plus: playing craps with @RISK and simulating the NBA finals!

Examples in this book have been developed and used successfully at companies such as GM, Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco.All files discussed are included on CD-ROM.The book is suitable for advanced undergraduates, MBAs, and most of all practicing financial professionals for both self-study or education classes. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Interesting and Practical Statistics
I wanted to refresh my knowledge of statistics, and this book helped a lot.It is a treasure trove of basic probability and statistics concepts.I like the fact that it discusses hurricane landfall prediction and event bunching, which have been all too relevant.It even discusses the difference between random and predestined digits.The author's cautions about causation assumptions, coincidence and extrapolation are excellent. Going way beyond Cliff Notes, it nevertheles is not overly challenging.The book demystifies realistic, practical problems, such as analizing the results of a quiz given to a large number of students.The practice exams are challenging but not excessively so.Consider buying this book.

Makes complicated stuff seem simple
As an accountant and investor, I have to work with statistics from time to time (too often). I've always had trouble with it, especially graphs and charts. This book is helping me understand things that have always confused me. There are plenty of graphs, clearly drawn and well explained. The first chapter, "Background Math," was especially helpful as a mini-refresher course. So far, I have found the material amazingly simple. I think everybody should read this book (and take all the tests) before attempting a hard-core statistics course. After I am done with this book, I plan to tackle "Advanced Statistics Demystified" and "Business Statistics Demystified." ... Read more

Book Description

Written in an informal and non-technical style, this book first explains the theory behind logistic regression and then shows how to implement it using the SAS System. Allison includes several detailed, real-world examples of the social sciences to provide readers with a better understanding of the material. He also explores the differences and similarities among the many generalizations of the logistic regression model. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Show me how
It is always nice to have an example. This is what this book gives you. It also gives you options. SAS commands are written clearly. It still can not be your only logistic regression book. You will need other books to have a better understanding of logistic regression.

You can get by with just this one
If you need to understand logistic regression analysis and you must do it in SAS, then you must have this book.

Gives clear, concise explanation of logistic regression, how to accomplish it in SAS, and explains the details of the SAS results.

This book had me up and running in short order.

Incredibly Helpful
I had used this author's SAS book on survival analysis before, so I was expecting another virtuoso performance when this book came out. And I was not disappointed. The book is incredibly useful, provides clear examples, makes you feel like you really understand the statistics, provides voluminous SAS code to illustrate how to implement analyses, and even teaches you a few tricks about how to handle unusual data problems along the way. Highly recommended, even if you don't use SAS! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Good scientists learn early on not to do everything by the book. Respected statistician Gerald Van Belle has compiled the unpublished wisdom of his profession in the invaluable Statistical Rules of Thumb. Those mathematicians involved in statistical work will applaud its clarity and organization, while other scientists will find their experimental design and analysis vastly improved by its suggestions. Each of the 99 rules has a brief introduction, a simple statement of the rule, illustrations, theoretical underpinnings, and extensions. Topics covered include covariation, design, consultation, epidemiology, and data representation. Van Belle is providing Web support for this ongoing project, so we can expect to see even greater breadth and refinement as it develops. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Practical advice
This is a useful book for the working statistician or consultant. Many questions arise in practice that are never covered in traditional textbooks, and with experience an applied statistician learns "rules of thumb". Here is a text that nicely organizes some of the most common questions and problems and design considerations, with solid practical advice. This is not a text for a course (unless a course in consulting), but would serve an applied researcher or statistician well.

Excellent Book - though not for the uninitiated
Excellent reference for statisticians. Only two complaints:
1) In many instances, wording is not clear - you have to really pick sentences apart to figure out what the author meant.
2) Reasons for a particular rule sometimes leave you wanting. But at least you're introduced to the concept and can look elsewhere for assistance in understanding.

Also, the title might lead some non-statisticans to think that they can pick this book up and learn how to plug and chug in all sorts of situations. This is not the case.

Superb!
What a great idea. Rather than write a comprehensive text, Dr. VanBelle writes about a large number of statistical topics, focussing on areas that are confusing, or frequently misunderstood. Some of his "rules of thumbs" are approximate formulae for doing quick (but approximate) analyses. Most are more general advice, based on decades of consulting. Topics range from designing studies to making graphs, but most are about data analysis. Something for everyone in a well-written book.

a must have
In the real world, statistical analyses are never as simple as multiple choices. There are a lot of things that have no clear cut between right and wrong. This book deals these "gray" areas. Wisdoms like the rules in this book are usually in an experienced statistician's mind. Now they are available to everyone doing statistics.

By the way, this book is so easy to read and does not have horrible equations.

more than just simple rules to apply
Gerald van Belle is a biostatistician and professor at the University of Washington. He has coauthored an excellent text on biostatistics with Lloyd Fisher. In this delightful and clearly written text van Belle provides 99 rules of thumb based on his vast experience as a consultant and researcher in statistics and biostatistics. For a statistician or a student of statistics along with the term "rule of thumb" one thinks of the three sigma rule or the use of range divided by sample size as a quick estimate of standard error of the mean. But this text is much more than a compilation of such simple rules. Professor van Belle organizes the book into topical chapters on sample size determination, covariation, epidemiology, environmental studies, design, conduct and analysis of experiments, tables and graphics, and consulting. Each rule is put into proper context and is justified with mathemetical theorems or empirical evidence.

Some of the rules are more like guidance for proper approaches to problems. For example in reviewing the basics in chapter 1 van Belle discusses the linear model in terms of the key assumptions of independence, equal variance and normality. The rule of thumb in section 1.4 states that assumptions should be considered in the order (1) independence, (2) equal variance and (3) normality. Van Belle explains this order by showing that the inferences are far more sensitive to violations in the independence assumption than in either the assumption of equal variance or the assumption of normality. As a statistician, I am aware of the sensitivity to correlation and the fact that variances need to differ by a factor of nearly four before results are seriously affected. Also when the data do not fit the normal distribution we have the nonparametric alternatives based on ranks. Nevertheless,in practice it is easiest and routine to test normality first, variances second and correlation becomes an afterthought. In some situations this may be okay since we may have good reason to believe that the observations were generated independently. But the rule is a good practical guidance. If you question all three assumptions it makes sense to test them in the order van Belle is suggesting.

Other practical advice of this type include the following rules of thumb:
1. Start with the Poisson to model incidence or prevalence.
2. Begin with the exponential model for time to event data.
3. Begin with two exponentials to compare two survival distributions.
4. Begin with the lognormal distribution in environmental studies.

These rules are not meant to suggest that simple models always work or even that they work in the majority of case. It is just that it is best to start simple and let the analysis and diagnostics tell you when more complicated models are needed.

This book will be a great guide for statistical practitioners and a terrific reference for professional and consulting statisticians. The references suppoting the rules are as valuable as the rules themselves. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Excellent Introduction to Probability
I first noticed this book during the time that I spent at UC Berkeley as an undergraduate applied mathematics major. It was being used for Stat 101, and though I was not taking that course, I bought it because it looked even from casual inspection to be very well laid out, covering important and interesting issues in basic probability.

The strongest feature of this book from my point of view is its conciseness. Much is presented in as short a time as possible, and because of that the book is much more readable than many others of its level. In addition to conciseness, the authors (in my edition Hoel, Port, and Stone) have made a commendable effort to present the reader with clear and concrete definitions, compact theorems (many proven), and abundant useful examples. In the back of the book nearly all of the solutions of the chapter exercises are given, unlike many books where answers to only the odd problems are given. I believe that this book is ideal for self-study, and that much use of it could also be made as a textbook for an undergraduate course in probability. The exercises are not very difficult, but they are by no means trivial, and much can be learned from them. At the end of a close study of this book the reader would be ready to enter into a program of undergraduate level mathematical statistics, or into a further study of probability with the confidence inspired by a firm understanding of the most fundamental and key concepts in probability theory.

If you want to learn elementary probability, get this book
This was the book used in the standard upper-division probability course at UC Berkeley when I took it 18 years ago. In my opinion it is still the best. I have since taught the subject myself and was forced to use other books, with many more pages and fancy pictures than Hoel's book. Yet those books do not do anywhere near as good a job of teaching probabilistic *thinking* as well as Hoel. This is what causes the most problems for students of probability, and Hoel does it the right way in Chapters 1 and 2, which are key. The basic explanations are clear and concise, with many instructive examples.

My professor back then told us that if we want to learn probability, then do every exercise in this book. She was absolutely right. The exercises are excellent. Do them, and you will learn a lot.

This used to be *the* book on elementary calculus-based probability theory at most universities. I don't understand why it seems to have fallen out of favor. Perhaps because of its size (it is fairly compact, as it should be) and age, though I fear that it may be because it is a bit more demanding (but worth it) than many of the newer books.

Excellent textbook!!
This classical text is complete and detailed. I'm an undergraduate and used the book after acquiring the basics of multiple integration as an introduction to the calculus of probability. Plenty of exercises (answers provided) which not only help you understanding the theory but are also complementary to the text. (This is a "non-measure" text on probability theory.) Well written!!!! (see also Hoel at al., 'Int. to Stochastic Processes', and Taylor, 'An Int. to Measure and Probability',(Springer-Verlag)).

i'm looking for: how to solve exercises
I would like to obtein the manual with the development of the answers if someone can give me some information about where can i get it, I'll apreciate so much. ... Read more

Book Description

Selling over 220,000 copies in its first edition, Schaum's Outline of Probability and Statistics has become a vital resource for the more than 977,000 college students who enroll in related probability and statistics courses each year. Its big-picture, calculus-based approach makes it an especially authoriatative reference for engineering and science majors. Now thoroughly update, this second edition includes vital new coverage of order statistics, best critical regions, likelihood ratio tests, and other key topics.

Reviews (6)

I don't want to give it any stars
As someone has stated earlier, this book doesn't go into details of how theorems or formulas are derived. They just state it - a sign of a bad book, in my opinion. Another example of this book's awfulness is the answers to the supplemental problems; some are WRONG(see 1.53, 1.66b, 2.43 just to name a few), this has driven me and my fellow clasmates crazy; making us believe that we're not doing it right. If you're a professor, please don't make this the required textbook, or even an optional book because it sucks.

Worst Statistics book I've ever seen
If you already know detailed stat theory, and are looking for a refresher for the formulae and theorems, this book will work, although I cannot imagine anyone needing a refresher book if they knew the material well anyway. This book might also work if you approach math by memorizing concepts without understanding them. For the rest of us, this book confuses more than it explains anything at all. Theorems are stated, not proven. Formulas are given, rarely drawn. The book looks like cheat sheets I used in class, not even like notes taken in class where you follow the proofs being drawn by the professor.

I have worked as a statistical process control engineer for 5 years, and as a fixed income bonds analyst for the last 3, and I also have extensive undergraduate and postgraduate education in this area. This is THE worst book I've ever come across on the subject matter. My recommendation is to get a college level intro to stat book like Milton and Arnold, or Weiss, if you want to learn the basics, or a Masters level book if you want to get into details, like Ripley or Kleinbaum.

Need a replacement
As per all Schaum's thjis is also excellent. Like many of the others I have, especially the Concrete Book, this one too, worn out. Since it was required for a course that I took for an elective, would you beleive Economic Statistics. An easy A for math majors and Engineers; no real hard core economics covered.

Had this course over thirty years ago; upon recomendation of a friend. Professor did ask one question regarding economics; "which one of these bell curves represents percent of total income". Most wrongly (as I did) the symettric one as opposed to the correctly skewed to the left one.

Nom more economics, then. Pure probability, Stats, and Fun. Since the prof was a sports and gaming fan, as am I, this is my favorite math.

The downside, was the prof was veiwed as biassed against women, because his one-point (out of 500) bonus question was always sports trivia. I actually usually hit them, although I remember, the one test before Memorial day 1970, that if were after I would have known that the Late Tony Hulman alwasys said "Gentlemaen, start your engines".

But I digress. Get this book, agree -- cheap thorough and worth it. My favorite and most practical branch of math; so buy, learn and beat the lotto, cards, horses, and slots.

Practical way to become proficient in problem solving
I have used this book to teach myself statistics and probability theory in a relatively short period of time. The essentials are well laid out and reinforced with plenty of examples and exercises. I would recommend using a Schaum outline authored by Murray Spiegel for becoming proficient in problem solving in that particular area. I got started this way after reading the book, Indiscrete Thoughts by Gian Carlo Rota.

This is a helpful tool
This is a great helpful tool for students to use! I was struggling in my stats class and this book helped a great deal. It is set up with many helpful hints and practice problems! Bravo Schaum's ... Read more

Book Description

Michael Steele describes the fundamental topics in mathematical inequalities and their uses.Using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality as a guide, Steele presents a fascinating collection of problems related to inequalities and coaches readers through solutions, in a style reminiscent of George Polya, by teaching basic concepts and sharpening problem solving skills at the same time. Undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, theoretical computer science, statistics, engineering, and economics will find the book appropriate for self-study. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Wonderful Book --Wish I had had it to read it in high school
Get it now -- don't wait!

As might be expected from the title, Steele's book includes an in depth exploration of the Cauchy Schwarz. It, however, includes so much more -- for example, many, many useful inequalities are set forth in its pages. But even its richness in range and number of inequalities (and equalities) is secondary to Prof. Steele's method of explication. For the real fruit of this book is the techniques and confidence built by the exercises and exposure to the examples. The exercises feed and bolster confidence in approching or deriving familiar and more importantly, never-before-seen inequalities, a confidence which grows with each page and exercise. Techniques that might normally only accrete after years of experience in the course of undergraduate and graduate mathematics courses are set forth one after another. On top of that, this is one of that handful of mathematics books that you can read almost like a novel. It's so readable and rewarding/interesting and engaging that when people have asked me what I have been reading lately, I can answer with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "a book on the Cauchy Schwarz inequality" -- which I never said about Royden, etc. These techniques are vital for many types of research -- applied mathematics, CS, economics, statistics, (and competitions) to name a few -- in all of these areas finding bounds can play a central role in research. Well worth every penny. ... Read more

Book Description

This CDROM contains all the source code for the routines and examples from Numerical Recipes in C: The Art of Scientific Computing (Second Edition) and Numerical Recipes in C++: The Art of Scientific Computing (Second Edition) as well as the affiliated example books. The C++ routines, in ANSI/ISO C++ source code, can be used with almost any existing C++ vector/matrix class library, according to user preference.A simple class library for stand-alone use is also included.The ISO 9660 standard format CD-ROM can be used by Windows (all versions) and Macintosh compatible computers, using any Web browser to navigate among the program files. Included with the CD-ROM is a license to use all the copyrighted Numerical Recipes code on a single Windows or Macintosh compatible computer. Both scientific programmers new to C++, and experienced C++ programmers who need access to the Numerical Recipes routines, can benefit from this new version of a classic text. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is the one of the worst examples of coding I've seen
I just got my copy of the CD today. I was surprised to see that they had stripped off all the code comments provided in the books. All that is left is the terse library of routines with the single character variables we loved to use as a BASIC beginner.

Buy this CD for the licence rights, but download the PDF chapters from the NR web site to get the commented code.

The familiar Numerical Recipies routines without so much C
The numerical recipes books have always provided minimal but usable routines for most numerical applications. The C++ conversion supplies routines that have been barely changed from the C versions, but uses C++ to give you the minimum that C++ programmers demand: automatic memory management and freedom from scary macros and side effects . The authors also updated the code to support double precision floats and complex numbers where the C version does not. The implementation of vectors and matrices is so minimal that even matrix multiplication and addition are not supported. All manipulation is element by element. This may make the routines less readable but has one big advantage: you can plug any vector or matrix library into these routine in place of their built in ones and expect everything to work instantly.

This is NOT free software - the license is relatively friendly to commercial software but not to open source software.

While there are other libraries that seem to be much more friendly to open source development than the NR library, I still think the numerical recipes books and libraries are useful to people writing open source software. You can't use the library directly, but where else are you going to find examples of minimal implementations of numeric algorithms? The code is absolutely modular, so you do have some hope of being able to decipher it.

Anyway even the NR routines are based on older routines so the authors admit in the license that comes with the book that they can't claim to own the algorithms they use.

Basically the new version of the code has been improved to the point where there's no need to run screaming, and for quick and dirty math routines, that's good enough for my use anyway.

... Read more