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Rating: 
Summary: A fundamentally flawed variant of mathematical statistics
Review: Geostatistics is a fundamentally flawed variant of mathematical statistics because it violates the requirement of functional independence and ignores the concept of degrees of freedom. Each weighted average had its on variance wen Sir Ronald A Fisher was knighted in 1952 but when the distance-weighted average mutated into an honorific kriged estimate, it became the first and only weighted average to be reborn without its variance. Incredibly, kriging variances and kriging covariances of sets of kriged estimates are the cornerstones of geostatistics. Incredible indeed because the variance of a set of distance-weighted averages is as inane a measure for variability, precision and risk as its covariance is for spatial dependence.Hailed by pundits as a new science but dismissed by skeptics as a sham, geostatistics is applied to small data sets in large sample spaces by assuming spatial dependence, interpolation by kriging, perfect smoothing and rigging the rules of mathematical statistics. Statistics 101 ought to be compulsory for those who assume the requirement of functional independence can be violated a little but not a lot.
Rating: 
Summary: GSLIB--Powerful tools for power users
Review: This is definitely not a book for the faint-of-mathematical-heart. As the title indicates, this is a user's manual for the GSLIB software (which is included on CD-ROM), and it includes discussions of all the supporting statistical mathematics. This makes the book invaluable to the user who is already well-grounded in statistics, and difficult to follow for the rest. There are very few lifelines to pull non-statisticians out of the jargon mire. Nevertheless, if you're well-versed (and you probably are if you're considering purchasing this software), this is one heck of a powerful set of tools. The software includes a Kriging smorgasbord, simulation, variography, display tools, and is self-contained with few exceptions. The software is platform-independent, requiring only a Fortran compiler. All routines are written for Fortran77, and are uncompiled. I found the software user manual to be useful, well thought out, and complete. A powerful tool at a bargain price!
Rating:
Summary: GSLIB--Powerful tools for power users
Review: This is definitely not a book for the faint-of-mathematical-heart. As the title indicates, this is a user's manual for the GSLIB software (which is included on CD-ROM), and it includes discussions of all the supporting statistical mathematics. This makes the book invaluable to the user who is already well-grounded in statistics, and difficult to follow for the rest. There are very few lifelines to pull non-statisticians out of the jargon mire. Nevertheless, if you're well-versed (and you probably are if you're considering purchasing this software), this is one heck of a powerful set of tools. The software includes a Kriging smorgasbord, simulation, variography, display tools, and is self-contained with few exceptions. The software is platform-independent, requiring only a Fortran compiler. All routines are written for Fortran77, and are uncompiled. I found the software user manual to be useful, well thought out, and complete. A powerful tool at a bargain price!
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