Schaum's Outline of Probability and Statistics

Rating:
Summary: I don't want to give it any stars
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Need a replacement
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: I don't want to give it any stars
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent statistics college level finals training program.
Review: As with all Schaum Outlines series, this is an excellent book for every college/univserity degree level student facing the statistics finals. Over 800 pages long, hundreds of examples, covering descriptive and inductive methods at length , together with the vital mathematical theory give the reader the background needed to pass any statistics finals. I used this when learning for mine, and it worked out great.

Rating:
Summary: Practical way to become proficient in problem solving
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Statistics book I've ever seen
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: huh?
Review: Most books have errors and typos. This book is no exception but I am curious as to why some reviewers think that nothing is proven. Of course some theorems are not proven rigorously which they can't be at this level but most proofs exist. If you are confused about Jacobians, then maybe you should also reference a calculus book because Spiegel expects that you know what that is.

This is an excellent book to refresh your knowledge of intro probability and statistics but assumes you are proficient in calculus.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Great for Self-Study and Understanding
Review: This is a completely outstanding work by an outstanding author. I have used this book for years, and again and again find myself turning to it for essential summaries and derivations of key results. Evidently some reviewers have not even caught on to the fact that the proofs of all the theorems are in the solved problems! (This is my first Amazon review, but I cannot allow the injustice perpetrated by some other reviewers to stand.)

All of the (few) typos of concern to some reviewers are in the "supplementary problems", and by the time you've got there you'll have no little confidence in your own answers and in your own ability. This is *the* probability and statistics book for me because the proofs are presented with minimum formality in order to maximize understanding of the main ideas. Want to know how to *derive* the chi-square distribution or how to add or multiply random variables? You'll find no clearer or more succinct presentation anywhere.

The first two chapters are also suitable for beginners. Copious examples (as thoughout) attend the presentations of (elementary) set theory, probability axioms, and combinatorics. The supplementary problems, always optional, however, do contain intermediate level challenges.

The book is entirely self-contained, and though it is of course true that extra books always help, it's the best single-source. It's ideal for self-study, as are all of Murray Spiegel's Schaum Outlines.

Rating:
Summary: This is a helpful tool
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Schaum's Outline of Probability and Statistics
Review: This work,i.e.,Schaum's Outline of Probability and Statistics
by Murray R Spiegel introduces calculus-based statistics and probability, covering all the topics in statistics and probability courses directed at mathematics, natural science, and engineering students.