Rating: 
Summary: Please check compatibility with Mathematica 5.0
Review: At the present time (Dec 2003) this software is not compatible with Mathematica 5.0 (check the mathstatica website) and the trial verison of Mathematica which comes with the book expires after 30 days.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear and impressive
Review: I am using this text to model distributions in finance. The book seems excellent: problems that I thought were complicated and even 'unsolvable' now seem 'simple', esp when you see how the authors get the computer to do the work for you. I recently upgraded to Mathematica 5 and to the latest version of MathStatica (the MathStatica people give a discount to book owners) and it all works beautifully.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book!
Review: I bought this book only to find that mathStatica on the bundled CD does not work with the current 5.0 version of Mathematica. The website wants $89 to upgrade the version to a "new" version that will work with 5.0. This upgrade costs more than the price of the book! Seems like a classic bait & switch....
Rating: 
Summary: Teaching mathematical statistics to biologists
Review: I have decided to use parts of this book to teach complex statistical theory issues to biologists. This allows focusing on the statistical, rather than on the mathematical aspects of inference. For example, the section on parameter-mix distributions can be used to motivate hierarchical or random effects models.In general, the book is clear and well written. I look forward to a second edition, in which I would like to see some coverage of Bayesian methods and of Markov chain Monte Carlo procedures.
Rating:
Summary: Run! Don't Walk! Buy this book!
Review: I waited for several years for this book to come out and it was worth the wait. The additional insights I obtained in the first few chapters were worth the price. The CD-Rom contains some HEAVY WEIGHT math and programming that eclipse the time and abilities most have to devote to this process. Rose and Smith have come up with a suite of tools that truly expand the use and power of an already great program. If you buy only one Mathematica book, buy this one. If you buy only one statistics book, buy this one.
Rating:
Summary: CD-ROM Note
Review: Just as a note, the mathStatica CD-ROM that comes with the book requires that you register the software before using it. This is fine if you always run on the same system, but becomes problematic if you use several different systems (as I do.) You can pay an additional fee to have the software run on one system and a second, personal system.
Rating:
Summary: CD-ROM Note
Review: Just as a note, the mathStatica CD-ROM that comes with the book requires that you register the software before using it. This is fine if you always run on the same system, but becomes problematic if you use several different systems (as I do.) You can pay an additional fee to have the software run on one system and a second, personal system.
Rating: 
Summary: Spend another $89 for working software
Review: The book looks very good but only if you have over $150 to spend. The book covers Mathematica and using an add on package designed for Mathematica 4. The software included with the book does not work with Mathematica 5 and they want an additional $89 for the version 5 update. If you want to see for yourself the site with deetails on the software is here: http://www.mathstatica.com/
Rating:
Summary: Spend another $89 for working software
Review: The book looks very good but only if you have over $150 to spend. The book covers Mathematica and using an add on package designed for Mathematica 4. The software included with the book does not work with Mathematica 5 and they want an additional $89 for the version 5 update. If you want to see for yourself the site with deetails on the software is here: http://www.mathstatica.com/
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, bad attitude
Review: There are some things a potential buyer should be aware of: 1. You don't get online help. That is, you do get entries in the help
browser, but they all point you to the website and tell you to buy the
"Gold" version. Very annoying. Why waste the space, if the help is not
there anyway? 2. When you start mathStatica, you always get two annoying popup
windows that serve absolutely no purpose except to remind you that
there is a "Gold" version. One of them pretends to be a Distribution
palette and a Help launcher, but provides no functionality except show
advertisements when you click on it. The other one just blatantly
shows "Upgrade!". 3. In the registration process they ask for your personal data, such as
address, etc. I have no idea why. There is no information on how this
data will be used, and no privacy policy. That's rather invasive. 4. The software will run with only one copy of Mathematica on one
machine. The license agreement also says that the authors can't
guarantee anything, not even that it will work with any future
versions of Mathematica. The license is non-transferable. Translation:
change your job and buy another book. Change your Mathematica
platforms and buy a new book. It's simply unfair. Overall this is quite annoying. After spending a considerable amount
of money on the book that says "Includes mathStatica" on the cover,
one gets constantly reminded that he should upgrade to the "Gold"
version to get the full functionality. Nothing wrong with there being
a better version, but I consider all the nagging reminders
impolite. It's not as if I got the stuff for free, the book isn't
cheap after all. Also, I would suggest that the authors rethink the licensing policy. I
mean, we're talking scientific book sales here, not
pump-out-your-customer, make-him-pay-for-upgrades, make-him-buy
the-full-version, give-him-no-rights licensing schemes! And it's not
like everyone is going to just copy the software and spread it
around. This software only runs with an expensive Mathematica system,
so the user base is already quite limited. It also really complements
the book. I think the authors went way overboard with the whole
copy-protection/restricted-licensing thing and this is rather sad. Overall, while this seems to be a good book, I am so disgusted by the
attitude (treat your reader as a thief, pump the money out of him),
that I grade it fairly low.
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