The Art of Probability for Scientists and Engineers

Rating:
Summary: Superb, unique treasure-trove of knowledge!
Review: R. W. Hamming was one of the great applied mathematicians of the 20th century and was a good writer. This was his best book. I would not use this for a text to teach from. However, for anyone who has had calculus and wants to get into probability, this is my first recommendation. It is a great book to read and is full of tricks and insights. It is much better to see generating functions here than in some dry merciless presentation. I heartily recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for the Scientist or Engineer
Review: R. W. Hamming was one of the great applied mathematicians of the 20th century and was a good writer. This was his best book. I would not use this for a text to teach from. However, for anyone who has had calculus and wants to get into probability, this is my first recommendation. It is a great book to read and is full of tricks and insights. It is much better to see generating functions here than in some dry merciless presentation. I heartily recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Superb, unique treasure-trove of knowledge!
Review: This is a superb text for all current and future practitioners of statistics. Richard Hamming wrote this book with a clear pedagogical vision of how to approach the subject in a clear yet nontrivial manner. Particularly clear and deep coverage of generating functions cannot be found in any other book ever written. Topics that explore Shannon entropy and related concepts are also covered in unique manner that simply cannot be found in other publications. Basic philosophical assumptions that need to be made to understand theories of probability and the nature of stochastic methods are discussed with wit and in depth.

I highly recommend this book to all readers who use statistics in they everyday work. That includes experts who actually develop new statistical methods themselves as well as curious individuals who would like to understand more about probability. The book is so well written that it should be recommended as a desk reference to all educated people who want to understand basic ideas and methods that fuel the theory and practice of probability. I am truly sorry that the maximum rating is only five stars. This book certainly should be rated above any maximum one can think of. Buy it, read it and enjoy the process!