Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists (7th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it.
Review: Don't buy this book if the class doesn't require it. This textbook has many mistakes. Try to save your money or buy another book. Trust me don't waste your money to buy it.

Rating:
Summary: The book is BAD! :0(
Review: I am a good student in math and like the subject very much. This semester I am taking "Probability and Statistics" and have to use this book for the course. In my opinion the textbook is bad. Not only it contains numerous mistakes in problems (which makes it useless as a reference material and almost impossible to use outside the classroom) but it also contains errors in some definitions and formulas. Its inaccuracies make the text look disrespectful towards mathematics! It kills all the wit and beauty of the subject. Instead of enjoying yet another fascinating journey into the realm of math I had to struggle with a swarm of silly typos.

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

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

Rating:
Summary: Useless as text or reference
Review: I am taking a graduate course in Statistics. I cannot imagine what possessed the instructor to select this as a text. First formula error on page 5!, very disappointing! Errors in examples that instructor cannot recognize or defend. Is there a list of mistakes that I can purchase or a Solution manual?

Rating:
Summary: few mistakes in 7th Ed., but no better for it ...
Review: I haven't noticed the mistakes the other reviewers have mentioned; perhaps they reviewed an earlier edition, or I haven't gotten far enough (through ch. 8). Anyway, the book is awful purely on account of the author's inability to make the concepts clear, and to use terminology precisely -- perhaps this fog is masking the errors. Fwiw, others in my class agree. Also, the index is uselessly short, so if you don't remember the meaning of some term defined in the text, you'll have to hunt for the imprecise definition page by page. In sum: unclear and difficult to use. Seek another alternative if at all possible.

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

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

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

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