Product Description
Students will save time and master non-calculus-based probability and statistics with this powerful study guide. It simplifies difficult theories and focuses on making clear the areas students typically find hardest to understand. The hundreds of problems solved step-by-step make it easier to master even complex statistical problems and get the best grades. Ideal for students in liberal arts, social and health sciences, and education programs. Perfect to supplement class work or for independent study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

In great condition, fast delivery
Very happy.The book arrived promptly and is in very good condition.Good experience.

Riddled with mistakes
Conceptual discription of the concepts are adequate, but the book has far to many mistakes to instill confidence in the subject matter. It was like walking a minefield. Proof: page 33, fig. 1-33 sums are incorrect, page 34, 1.21.(b) incorrect use of the mean, page 135 (b) P(H) should be P(T). Understand that I only reviewed 10 pages in this book. Shame on Schaum's.

Great book!!! And cheap!!!!!
It is a really great book...has everything you need to learn...at a good price...just great!!! ... Read more

Product Description
WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES

The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.

"Many examples drawn from the author’s experience of engineering applications are used to illustrate the theoretical results, which are presented in a cookbook fashion...it provides an excellent practical guide to the analysis of product-life data."
–T.M.M. Farley
Special Programme of Research in Human Reproduction
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland
Review in Biometrics, September 1983

Now a classic, Applied Life Data Analysis has been widely used by thousands of engineers and industrial statisticians to obtain information from life data on consumer, industrial, and military products. Organized to serve practitioners, this book starts with basic models and simple informative probability plots of life data. Then it progresses through advanced analytical methods, including maximum likelihood fitting of advanced models to life data. All data analysis methods are illustrated with numerous clients' applications from the author's consulting experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Applied Life Data Analysis
I don't own many dedicated volumes on this specific topic, but I have used several and this compares very well. The Weibull sections are explained vary well. There is enough information for a novice and yet will still be a good reference for someone with experience. Modern software tools have made the tedious tasks more automated, however this volume covers the theory and has reference material and good examples.

How to do Weibull analaysis - and how to understand it.
There was a sharp client need, my experience with weibull was a while ago, and my (excellent) software was still new to me.Wayne Nelson's book, _Applied Life Data Analysis_, was just right.He has the equations; he has the examples, PLUS the pitfalls and cautions that go with them.Using this book, I was able to understand an unexpected but mathematically valid result in life test data.I strongly recommend this book for those who need to understand what they are doing with life test analysis and prediction.

Nelson's first book
At the time this book was written Dr. Wayne Nelson was a research statistician for General Electric as well as a private consultant.Through his work at GE he became very familiar with the application of censored "life data" in practical reliability applications and this was one of the first well-presented applied books in reliability similar to other statistics books written on survival and reliability.Wayne never revised this book but he did go on to write books on accelerated testing and recurrent events and was a major contributor to the research in reliability both from the theoretical and practical sides.Wayne has said that one reason that he never revised it was that at a time when a revision might have been appropriate the book by Meeker and Escobar came out and that text was very close in content to what Wayne would have written.Although the book is outdated, it does rightfully belong in the Wiley Classic series and is affordable in its current paperback form.It is still a valuable resource and has historical significance.

An Excellent Coverage At All Levels
This book has an excellent coverage of the topic of survival analysis from the basics through to far more advanced techniques. As both a practitioner using practical survival analysis, and as a student I find this book particularly useful.

Of particualr use is the focus on real situations, which may differ from the simplest forms that are often used in other texts.

The Bible of reliability data analysis
This is Dr. Nelson's classic work on life data analysis, and should be on the bookshelf of anyone working in reliability and risk analysis. It covers the full specturm of reliability data analysis methods, and can be read at several levels - from a beginner who is trying to learn the language, to someone interested in developing their own software. Dr. Nelson once mentioned that he wasn't going to write an update to this classic as new developments were covered by Prof. Meeker's book. Although Meeker's book is excellent, this book remains an all-time favorite. I think part of this books popularity is it's writing style in addition to the way the topics are structured and covered. Well worth the price ! ... Read more

Product Description
Doing statistics for the first time? Don’t panic! In this introductory text, author Frederick L. Coolidge shows how statistics needn’t be difficult or dull. The Second Edition of Statistics: A Gentle Introduction is specifically designed to reduce students’ anxieties and minimize unnecessary formulas while providing a comprehensive review of basic statistical designs and analyses through the use of interesting, real world examples.

Customer Reviews (6)

Easy to understand!
I am currently in my stats class, with the author of the book.I have to say this was one class that I was dreading the most with math not being a strong subject of mine.However I will say the book is very detailed in how particular formulas are to be completed.Dr. Coolidge breaks down each step and does one thing at a time, which allows the student to follow along very easily.He also breaks down what the numbers mean very well and with real world, practical examples.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy guided tour of the world of stats.

Not worth the price
I own several introductory statistics books. I purchased this book based on the ratings and had hoped this would be a good addition to my library. Sadly, it is not. I really can't understand why it's being reviewed so well.Reading some of the reviews it seems that the reviewers are teachers rather than students.Other books in my collection offer a much better introduction to statistics and are a lot less expensive. The author has multiple degrees in psychology but nothing in his bio lists any background in mathematics.This tends to show in his overly analytical (read dry) approach to his writing style.
He also spends very little time on probability which has been a huge part of my statistics classes and an area that I was looking for additional information and explanation.
The author, at times, tries to show some real world examples but in the end seems to retreat back into "stats speak" that so many authors are guilty of doing.Note to authors: You are supposed to be teaching, not showing how smart you think you are.How well you get your points across to your students is the mark of a good teacher.
I can't recommend this as an "introductory" book but it might be alright for someone who already has a strong basic background in statistics.

Outstanding Book!
I taught several statistics courses using Statistics: A Gentle Introduction (1st ed.).I just received the 2nd edition.I have shelves of stats books and these are by far the most down to earth, easy to understand stats books I've found and are ideal for teaching.The 2nd editionbuilds upon the first edition and offers practice problems and sample test questions at the end of each chapter.The 2nd edition includes SPSS output and a description of the output for regression & correlation (but not for ANOVA, t-tests, chi-square).The 2nd edition includes a nice description of confidence intervals.I highly recommend this book!

Makes Statistics Simple
This book was fantastic!It outlined the basic concepts of statistics in a way that didn't completely confuse the student.I was able to pass all my tests and actually UNDERSTAND my coursework.Kudos to the author--I HIGHLY recommend this book to the beginning statistics student.

Best Stats Textbook on the Market
This has to be the most "gentle" book about statistics on the market.I can actually say that I now understand the basic statistical methods!Too often, statistics books give you too much information all at once, which can be confusing to beginners.This book gradually lays it out step by step and gives clear examples of almost every possible variation.Authors of statistics texts often confuse the reader in their attempts to impress them with technical language.This book is written in language understandable to beginners and proceeds at a digestable pace.Plus, it includes brief glimpses of historical information to give the reader a broader understanding of the subject.I highly recommend this as a text for introductory statistics classes or as a refresher for anyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This old book is much better than most textbooks on the market!
I picked this book up for free in a box of old books being given away.I found this book most helpful, although in many ways it is very out-of-date.

Nowadays, most introductory probability texts fit into one of two categories.On the one hand are more basic ones, full of examples, not presenting much theory, and lacking in mathematical rigor.On the other hand are ultra-abstract books, starting from measure theory and proving a lot of "abstract nonsense" without helping the reader understand any of what is going on.

This book exists on a very happy middle ground between these two extremes: it is highly theoretical, while providing a lot of rich discussion and helping develop intuition as well.Although it is old and somewhat out-of-date, many of the results are just as important and much of the material has changed very little.

The other thing that I like about this book is that although it is primarily a probability textbook, it does provide a basic introduction to the mathematical theory of statistics, and paves the way for future study in this area.

In short, I'm very glad I picked this book up out of the box.I haven't found a more modern book like it, although I'm sure they're out there and I could find one if I looked hard enough.This book is available...if you can grab it for cheap in a used bookstore, a box of old books, or from an online dealer, I'd say go for it. ... Read more

Product Description

The third edition of this classic text maintains its focus on applications of demographic models, while extending its scope to matrix models for stage-classified populations. The authors first introduce the life table to describe age-specific mortality, and then use it to develop theory for stable populations and the rate of population increase. This theory is then revisited in the context of matrix models, for stage-classified as well as age-classified populations. Reproductive value and the stable equivalent population are introduced in both contexts, and Markov chain methods are presented to describe the movement of individuals through the life cycle. Applications of mathematical demography to population projection and forecasting, kinship, microdemography, heterogeneity, and multi-state models are considered.

The new edition maintains and extends the book's focus on the consequences of changes in the vital rates. Methods are presented for calculating the sensitivity and elasticity of population growth rate, life expectancy, stable stage distribution, and reproductive value, and for applying those results in comparative studies.

Stage-classified models are important in both human demography and population ecology, and this edition features examples from both human and non-human populations. In short, this third edition enlarges considerably the scope and power of demography. It will be an essential resource for students and researchers in demography and in animal and plant population ecology.

Nathan Keyfitz is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Harvard University. After holding positions at Canada's Dominion Bureau of Statistics, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley, he became Andelot Professor of Sociology and Demography at Harvard in 1972. After retiring from Harvard, he became Director of the Population Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna from 1983 to 1993. Keyfitz is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the Mindel Sheps Award of the Population Association of America and the Lazarsfeld Award of the American Sociological Association, and was the 1997 Laureate of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. He has written 12 books, including Introduction to the Mathematics of Population (1968) and, with Fr. Wilhelm Flieger, SVD, World Population Growth and Aging: Demographic Trends in the Late Twentieth Century (1990).

Hal Caswell is a Senior Scientist in the Biology Department of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he holds the Robert W. Morse Chair for Excellence in Oceanography. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has held a Maclaurin Fellowship from the New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. His research focuses on mathematical population ecology with applications in conservation biology. He is the author of Matrix Population Models: Construction, Analysis, and Interpretation (2001).

Product Description
Ever since the introduction by Rao in 1945 of the Fisher information metric on a family of probability distributions there has been interest among statisticians in the application of differential geometry to statistics. This interest has increased rapidly in the last couple of decades with the work of a large number of researchers. Until now an impediment to the spread of these ideas into the wider community of statisticians is the lack of a suitable text introducing the modern co-ordinate free approach to differential geometry in a manner accessible to statisticians. This book aims to fill this gap. The authors bring to the book extensive research experience in differential geometry and its application to statistics. The book commences with the study of the simplest differential manifolds - affine spaces and their relevance to exponential families and passes into the general theory, the Fisher information metric, the Amari connection and asymptotics. It culminates in the theory of the vector bundles, principle bundles and jets and their application to the theory of strings - a topic presently at the cutting edge of research in statistics and differential geometry. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (19)

Great Read!

Normally I get a headache whenever I think about statistics, but Frey expertly explains concepts and provides very interesting examples.I found this book very helpful and a lot of fun to read.

stat-TAS-tic
Absolutely the best stats book I've read! I especially enjoyed the poker-related hacks; they have helped both my poker playing and my stats abilities.

I love this format!
I am not a statistician but it has always seemed like it should be more interesting than the other books I have tried to read on the subject made it. That's why I love the format of this book. It is broken up into small sections, each of which shares some interesting tidbit about statistics. Most of them are quite interesting and even the occasional yawner does not ruin the book because it is at least short. :)

An interesting way to get into statistics.

Fun and helpful at the same time!
When I read this book, I laughed and learned - what more could you ask for?

When students struggle with other stats books, I recommend this one and they have all been grateful!

An entertaining and useful book
It's not very easy to use the words "entertaining" and "statistics" in the same sentence, but you can if you're talking about this book.Bruce Frey's collection of tips and tools makes the subject interesting, fun-- even funny-- and most importantly, approachable.

It's important to understand that this book is not intended to be a statistics textbook, review, or reference manual.Rather, it is a collection of bite-sized hacks that relate statistical principles to the "real" world.Every hack is illustrated with some example, including many relating to gambling, games, and bar bets.Which properties should you buy in Monopoly?The answer is here, along with an explanation.How many people have to be in a room with you before you can be pretty sure that at least one of them shares your birthday?That's here, too, along with the explanation.Is there a way to predict the winner of a baseball game by listening to about twenty minutes of the middle of it?Yep.

If you're looking for an authoritative, comprehensive, serious statistics text, keep shopping.If you're looking for a light but nonetheless very useful explanation/review of how and why statistics work in a real-world context, buy this book.

I'm glad I bought it, and I'd do it again.I got more than enough entertainment and utility out of it to justify the expense. ... Read more

Product Description
For graduate-level courses in Statistical Inference or Theoretical Statistics in departments of Statistics, Bio-Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, and Mathematics.

Customer Reviews (3)

Well presented but has some flaws
I used this text in a graduate mathematical stats course. There are some complaints about difficulty, but honestly for a PhD the text is reasonable. The mathematical presentation is quite formal. To go along with this there is plenty of written explanation, which is expertly presented and motivated. Some of the exercises require some ingenuity, and these seem to be sprinkled randomly among trivial problems.

I have two issues with Bickel & Doksum. 1)There are a large number of typos, which interacts in a bad way with the terse mathematical style. 2)The appendix, which covers probability, is written a rather high level - higher, in fact, than is needed for the main material. Of course there are plenty of good references for this, but since many proofs are essentially (see B.12.5.1) this gets annoying.

Just OK
The book is just OK. The only problem with it is the high difficulty level of the exercises at the end of each chapter, and of course there are no tips or solutions provided to help master the statistical concepts better. It's a pitty!

Great! ...but some background necessary
Terse, but in the best way possible. Mathematical Statistics (MS) is for those who already have a firm introduction to probability and some work in statistics. Any rigorous mathematical background (especially in analysis) is definitely a bonus, which is the level this text is written at.

I haven't read all of MS (there's A LOT of material here) but I have gone through all of chapter 1 (took 5 weeks to cover in the course that used this text), and then bits and pieces through chapter 4. That is, I took a course that used this book and we covered all of the first chapter plus bits and pieces of chapters 2-4 over 10 weeks. At first when I started reading this book, I wasn't impressed. However, the more I read, the more patient I became with the text due to the insights it provided -- after chapter one, the pieces start falling together. This isn't just some statistics book to get the reader to understand what a maximum likelihood estimate or the information inequality is -- MS is about tying together concepts and, specifically, relating these concepts to exponential families (not to be confused with an exponential distribution, which is one type of exponential family).

Exponential families are emphasized in this book and were something I had never heard of prior to reading this book (exponential, beta, and normal distributions are all examples of exponential families). The exposure to the properties, Theorems, and the propositions of these families that make them unique has brought my understanding of these concepts and their implementation to an entirely new level. This is a theory book, but with theory comes application, and the problems (some extremely difficult) help make this expansion to application.

Having mentioned just a fraction of what this book is about, now I have to be real. This book is hard. I was a math major (now a stats grad student) with a good grounding in statistical concepts and this book is hard. Many people will not like this book, but for those who are willing to commit a lot of time to learning statistical background and theory should find this book a treasure. I cannot emphasize enough that this book is certainly slower reading than the average statistics book. I would give it a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio in required reading time to the average texts -- this book is just not the average. With all this said, my opinion of this book certainly differs from others who also took the course but had a less rigorous mathematical background or had less prior knowledge about some of the statistical concepts.

A good complementary text is Probability and Statistics (P&S), by DeGroot, which gives basics about many of the topics expanded on in Mathematical Statistics. About 5-6 people in my class ended up buying P&S to supplement MS, and all those I talked to agreed P&S was better for introducing topics. For a truly ambitious individual, self-study would be possible but difficult with this book (complement MS with P&S if there are difficulties in self-study). ... Read more

Product Description
Six full-length practice exams are presented with all questions answered and explained. A subject review covers all AP test topics, including exploratory analysis, methods of data collection, probability, statistical inference, and much more. The author also provides practice and review questions following each review topic, advice for test-taking success, uses of the calculator in statistical analysis, and an AP scoring guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

It had everything in it!
When AP exams finally come along, many students realize (like myself and my friends), that we crammed the material before each class exam but never really committed it to memory. So, to save ourselves from getting lousy scores, we turn to prep books. Barron's has served me well in the past, so my friends and I all bought copies of this before the AP...and it was a lifesaver.

Spending about four hours a day the week before the exam with this book worked wonders! It explained every statistical concept that we'd learned previously in a very clear, cogent manner (in fact, I really felt like I'd learned something after I read this). And, in true Barron's fashion, it left nothing untouched. From regression equations to chi-square tests, this book covers it all. And not only do you get a review of the material, you really get a comprehensive treatment of the material but in a less "frilly" and frivolous manner, so you don't have to wade through hundreds of lines of silly talk as is seen in so many textbooks.

So, after reading this book and doing ALL of the exercises (they're harder than the real thing, so if you practice with these, you'll be set), I was well prepared for the AP statistics exam. When I took it, there wasn't a thing on there that I didn't know how to do, and it's largely thanks to this book!

If you're looking to learn AP stats independently or are looking to brush up on course material before exams, then don't waste your time with any other stats book...read this one, and get that 5!

AP Stats Savior
Barron's AP Stats Prep book is what got me my 5. I spent the year in Stats class not paying attention, not doing homework, and for the most part not understanding a single thing about stats. 2 weeks before the exam I went through Barron's front to back, and got a 5! The information is organized in an easy to use fashion, and there's plenty of practice problems.

Very good book.
This is probably the best AP Statistics book out there. It's very comprehensive and detailed.
If you read and understand most of the material on here, there's almost no reason you will not get a 4 or 5.
The only problem is with the practice tests. Many of the questions in the practice tests involve number crunching rather then testing if you know the concepts of statistics. When i took this test, i was quite surprised to see that almost all the questions were concept questions. I barely touched my calculator on this exam.

crammed full of basketball problems
One thing that is seriously annoying about this otherwise solid book is that the author is apparently a major fan of professional basketball, and thinks nothing of interlarding the text with dozens of arcane references to the sport.

Here's an example:

"Consider the historgram of the yearly average assists per game figures for Jeff Hornacek (Phoenix and Houston)."(p. 11)As if it's not enough to mention an obscure player, must we pedantically specify that he played with both Phoenix and Houston?!(This is incorrect anyhow:it should be Phoenix and Philadelphia.)Surely this silliness will help to confuse any foreign or ESL user of this text.

Thus if you're unclear on such basketball abstrusia as rebounds, assists, and three-point shots, this book is likely to strike you as a self-indulgent slog.

On the other hand, if you love basketball as much as Sternstein evidently does, you'll find the text both invigorating and relevant.

great book for review
this book provides a very comprehensive review of the whole course. i read all of the sections and did all the practice problems at the end of each section. though i didn't have much time working on the 6 practice tests, the information i got from the review part itself helped me greatly on the AP test. i just took it a couple weeks ago and im confident that i got a 5 on it. w0000t ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book!
This book is exactly what I ordered in perfectly new condition at a price that couldn't be beat elsewhere. A+

Dissapointing
I have used this textbook for two of my statistics courses: One being introduction to theoretical probability, and another one was mostly about statistical inference. Part of this book that contains probability is actually written quite nicely. It has a lot of useful chapters on introductory probability theory. However, do not expect many combinatorial problems to be presented here.

However, while taking the second course in statistics, I realized that part of this book that covers statistical methods is rather garbage. Reading those sections it just a total waste of time. This book overcomplicates even easy things and tends to use a lot of random letters to represent various variables, which I have never seen in any other book on this subject.


PROS:

Probability part is well written and clear, good excercises.
Contains advanced things that are not done on introductory level

CONS:

Everything else


In my opinion this book is simply not worth buying. Try to borrow one from a friend, get it from the library. Just don't waste your time and money on this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Renowned for its clear prose and no-nonsenseemphasis on core concepts, Statistics coversfundamentals using real examples to illustratethe techniques.The Fourth Edition has beencarefully revised and updated to reflect current data. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Accessible and instructive
This is a great book for learning basic statistics and the scientific method without getting too bogged down in higher math. Don't be scared by the cover - much of the book is in prose - and highly readable prose at that. It provides very useful examples for understanding the basics of statistical models and experimental design. Definitely a great way to ease into an intimidating but important subject.

Excellent basic learning for statistics
The book is a classic. It is well written and explains basics of statistics very well -The language is very simple and the concepts explained are easy to grasp. I would recommend this book strongly for anyone interested in learning from scratch or as a refresher. You can use this book for self learning too.

Online Class
Using this book for an online course. Not the same edition as the teacher wanted, but good enough. Has all the same problems and information.

textbook use
brand new, fast shipping
contents are really good for students taking statistic class and economics

Best examples of any statistics textbook
When I initially looked at this textbook, I was disappointed that it has the least extensive number of statistical tests described. There is only a passing mention of Fisher's exact test, no logistic regression, etc. However the examples are by far the best I've seen in any textbook (even non statistics books) and they are very helpful in understanding statistical pitfalls. They make you think more than most advanced texts. The clarity of writing is superb. Since many statistical problems are due to the setup and reasoning of studies, rather than picking the wrong text, this textbook will go far to enable the reader to more critically understand the methodology of studies. ... Read more

Product Description
Computer software is an essential tool for many statistical modelling and data analysis techniques, aiding in the implementation of large data sets in order to obtain useful results. R is one of the most powerful and flexible statistical software packages available, and enables the user to apply a wide variety of statistical methods ranging from simple regression to generalized linear modelling. Statistics: An Introduction using R is a clear and concise introductory textbook to statistical analysis using this powerful and free software, and follows on from the success of the author's previous best-selling title Statistical Computing.
* Features step-by-step instructions that assume no mathematics, statistics or programming background, helping the non-statistician to fully understand the methodology.
* Uses a series of realistic examples, developing step-wise from the simplest cases, with the emphasis on checking the assumptions (e.g. constancy of variance and normality of errors) and the adequacy of the model chosen to fit the data.
* The emphasis throughout is on estimation of effect sizes and confidence intervals, rather than on hypothesis testing.
* Covers the full range of statistical techniques likely to be need to analyse the data from research projects, including elementary material like t-tests and chi-squared tests, intermediate methods like regression and analysis of variance, and more advanced techniques like generalized linear modelling.
* Includes numerous worked examples and exercises within each chapter.
* Accompanied by a website featuring worked examples, data sets, exercises and solutions:

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/bio/research/crawley/statistics

Statistics: An Introduction using R is the first text to offer such a concise introduction to a broad array of statistical methods, at a level that is elementary enough to appeal to a broad range of disciplines. It is primarily aimed at undergraduate students in medicine, engineering, economics and biology - but will also appeal to postgraduates who have not previously covered this area, or wish to switch to using R. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

More of an introduction to R than an introduction to statistics.
This is an excellent starting place for using R. I am using a GNU/Linux platform and needed help in moving from SPSS and Stata to a Linux compatible analysis tool.This is a great book for someone with a statistical background or needing a bit of a review.You will gain a better understanding of the theory behind the different types of analysis, and the examples in the book are great. R is very powerful, and the book helps you access that power directly from the command prompt; without a GUI interface. R Commander and RKWARD are fine for simple work, but the real power of R is accessed through the command prompt.This is the book!

I would highly recommend this book as an introduction to a great analysis software that has a bit of a steep learning curve.This will get you back to work and back to publication.

A good R and Stat Book
It is an excellent intro to R and Statistics. Michael Crawley has the gift exposition and writes in an informal style; it is more of a non-mathematical intro. The only flaw I would point out is that Survival Analysis is not fully dealt with - Cox's Proportional Hazards Model is not even mentioned. Some problems may be laid at the door of the publisher - Figures are not numbered, chapter numbers are not displayed at the top of the page. Other than these minor flaws, the book is indeed an excellent exposition of R and Statistics.
aasgha

Great refresher on basic stats + R
I'd like to agree with the sentiment that if you already know some stats and want a refresher and introduction to R, this is a great book. I've never taken a formal stats course, but sometimes run experiments and do basic inferential stats. This book has the clearest explanations of the logic of basic stats that I have ever read. I especially like the fact that Crawley doesn't resort to cute analogies that don't actually work (my pet peeve in stats textbooks), and just assumes that he's speaking to an intelligent reader who wants to figure out what the right analysis is for a given case.

Great review of important statistical concepts and intro to R
If you have already had some experience with statistical methods and are looking for a refresher or a way to quickly pickup the basics of R, this is the place to go.It has a wonderfully conversational tone that is missing from far too many scientifically oriented books, and he brings quite a few insights into the practice of statistics that are more difficult to pickup from the heavily theoretical books.

I would agree with a previous reviewer that there is a bit more space than necessary dedicated to relatively simple concepts, but such minor transgressions are easily overlooked given the overall effectiveness of the book.

I would recommend this book as a refresher/introduction to R, or as a companion book to a college course on statistical methods.The author doesn't cover theory at all (on purpose), so keep in mind this is purely a practical book.

I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for a few typos that might confuse beginners or people who have a tendency to read when you're a bit to tired to do so (for example, on the bottom of p59 he says lower bound when he meant upper, nothing you wouldn't catch with a careful re-reading).

No deception here
This book does a good job of what its designed to do. I would have to agree with another reviewer that finds the topics covered in this book a little too much for a intro statistics book. My intro class certainly didn't cover variable transformation and other more complex topics.I would have to say that I don't feel 100% comfortable navigating through R now, but I have exponentially increased my understanding. I wasn't too impressed with the last few chapters. It seemed as if the coverage of material decreased as the complexity of the statistical tests became more complex. The secion on survival analysis, for example, spans only a few pages. That being said, you do get the R code right in front of you to expose you to how the code needs to be set up. This book also comes with matching chapter lessons that can be downloaded from the authors website. Unfortunately, many of the exercises arenothing more than repeats of the same material in the book. This hurts. I like learning through structured examples...And I prefer more rather than less. So if you are really motivated to learn R by working through some elementary inferential statistics (standard deviation, t-tests, and anovas) then this book can produce results. If your looking for more advanced content (information on examples installing and using packages affiliated with R) than this book doesn't won't meet all of your goals. I would recomend it to someone with little or no knowledge of R and the patience to work through the basics on your own. ... Read more

Product Description
When it comes to learning statistics, Mann delivers the information that business professionals need. The new edition incorporates the most up-to-date methods and applications to present the latest information in the field. It focuses on explaining how to apply the concepts through case studies and numerous examples. Data integrated throughout the chapters come from a wide range of disciplines and media sources. Over 200 examples are included along with marginal notes and step-by-step solutions. The Decide for Yourself feature also helps business professionals explore real-world problems and solutions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book If You Need Help With Your Homework!
This book helped me with my homework. It has all of the answers to the odd homework problems that are given from Introductory Statistics by Prem S. Mann sixth edition. This book includes the step by step way to solve the problems to each odd question. It helps when you have no idea how to work a problem, and you do not have anyone to ask for help. This book was passed around my statistics class. People were so addicted to it that I stopped bringing it to class. It will really help you if you use it as a reference for when you are stuck, not for copying every homework assignment. The college actually banned it from the bookstore. ... Read more

Product Description
Darrell Huff runs the gamut of every popularly used type of statistic, probes such things as the sample study, the tabulation method, the interview technique, or the way the results are derived from the figures, and points up the countless number of dodges which are used to fool rather than inform.Amazon.com Review
"There is terror in numbers," writes Darrell Huff in How to Lie withStatistics. And nowhere does this terror translate to blind acceptanceof authority more than in the slippery world of averages, correlations,graphs, and trends. Huff sought to break through "the daze that follows thecollision of statistics with the human mind" with this slim volume, firstpublished in 1954. The book remains relevant as a wake-up call for peopleunaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring fromWall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe togrind, a point to prove, or a product to sell. "The secret language ofstatistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed tosensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify," warns Huff.

Although many of the examples used in the book are charmingly dated, thecautions are timeless. Statistics are rife with opportunities for misuse,from "gee-whiz graphs" that add nonexistent drama to trends, to "results"detached from their method and meaning, to statistics' ultimatebugaboo--faulty cause-and-effect reasoning. Huff's tone is tolerant andamused, but no-nonsense. Like a lecturing father, he expects you to learn something useful from the book, and start applying it every day.Never be a sucker again, he cries!

Even if you can't find a source of demonstrable bias,allow yourself some degree of skepticism about the results as long as thereis a possibility of bias somewhere. There always is.

Read How to Lie with Statistics. Whether you encounter statistics atwork, at school, or in advertising, you'll remember its simple lessons.Don't be terrorized by numbers, Huff implores. "The fact is that, despiteits mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science."--Therese Littleton ... Read more

Customer Reviews (114)

Brevity is the soul...
I got this book for a course in college back in the late 60's. I thought it was a great book then and I believe it is even more important today. We are bombarded with stats every day in every way. This little book helps cut through the lies and deceit that masquerade as fact today. Whether it's in a contracted poll or sifting through data supplied by the government, stats are used to lead us in one direction or another. Get this little gem and enjoy the old-fashioned graphics and the simple message. How to Lie With Statistics is a keeper. I lent my copy to a physician years ago and have regretted it ever since. He kept it and moved from the area. Argh.

Or...How to not get fooled by statistics.
I really enjoyed the book and I thought that the material was well presented and well researched. Darrell Huff seems to be exceedingly versed and extremely knowledgeable in statistics. Despite that, he does a great job at making the material easy to understand and follow without sounding condescending or delving into too much statistical jargon. The majority of material in the book deals with how statistics are sometimes used to deceive people and distort data for cynical purposes. Each chapter deals with a different method of how someone might mislead or fool others with statistics and with each method the author gives many examples and he thoroughly explains each one and how they are deceptive. Also, he uses some wonderful illustrations that demonstrate the different types of deceptive line and bar graphs. He uses these illustrations in order for the reader to better visualize exactly what he is trying to convey. The only downside to the book that I could think of, if you could even call it a downside, more like a drawback, is that it is rather outdated. A lot of his examples come from articles that were in some very highly regarded magazines at that time, and even now, such as Time, Harpers, Literary Digest, and Fortune. Even so, most of the examples are very old and difficult to completely put into perspective because they deal with things that are much different now then they were then. Nevertheless, the issues and subject matter presented in the book are still very relevant today as they were back then, seeing as some of the same deceptive statistics that are described in the book are still being used today, even among a few of the more reputable news media outlets on TV and in print. The last chapter is probably the most important because it gives the reader some worthy ammunition for recognizing and refuting questionable or suspicious statistical claims, i.e., the author goes back and tackles each topic in order to give the reader some tools to help spot and properly question statistics that are intentionally or inadvertently dubious. I highly recommend for everyone to read this book because it teaches an especially valuable lesson of why it is important to always be skeptical of statistical claims no matter where they come from.

Not mind blowing at all
Maybe I expected too much from this book. I thought this book could give me more insight into the dangers of statistical interpretations or the wrongful use of statistics. This book didn't help me at all with that. It's all very (very) basic stuff people should watch out for, when using statistics. Most of this I already knew. I think for anybody who has already red a book from Nicholas Taleb (or anything alike) this book will not present any new material.

To people completely new to statistics, this book might be helpfull, but to those who frequently use statistics for their jobs or in their free time, this book won't add any value. There are much better books on statistics out there.

Classic intro to Statistics
Love this little book.I recommend it to anyone starting to study statistics, or to arm themselves as a citizen or a consumer.Fun, easy to read and very important.I first read it as a supplement to my college statistics class over 35 years ago and have read it at least a couple times since.It's timeless.

How to lie with statistics
I have just finish reading this book and, in my opinion, I thought that it is a very simple and funny whey to learn statistic.
However, for people who intend to purchase something with more details about tests and analyses, I don't recommend this book.

... Read more

Product Description
UNDERSTANDABLE STATISTICS is a thorough, yet accessible program designed to help students overcome their apprehensions about statistics. The authors provide guidance and informal advice, while showing students the links between statistics and the world. To reinforce this approach, the book integrates real-life data from a variety of sources including journals, periodicals, newspapers, and the Internet. The Ninth Edition addresses the growing importance of developing students' critical thinking and statistical literacy skills through the introduction of new features and exercises throughout the text. Extensive technology resources include a new algorithmic test bank and lecture slides, along with a market-leading DVD series and other resources designed to provide reinforcement for students and support for instructors. The use of graphing calculators, Excel, Minitab, and SPSS is covered though not required. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Understandable Statistics
Book received in excellent condition. Received in promised time. Would recommend this site to others

Don't believe the title...
My stats professor, who has a great sense of humor, said the title of this book is, "a damnable lie."Admit it:"understandable statistics" is, at best, an oxymoron.The best part of this book is the application exercises.The text by itself will not be enough to walk you through the maze that is statistics.Find a good guru to explain the concepts and provide moral support.

Not bad, just not good enough
As a teacher of basic statistics, I am always on the lookout for a better text. Right now, I use "The Basic Practice of Statistics" by David Moore. Therefore, when I looked at this book, it was being compared to the Moore book as well as to what I want to cover in the class.
The coverage of this book is more than adequate for my needs and the order of presentation is well within my desires. Nonparametric statistics is also included, which is an area I cover only if I have the time.
The presentation style is appropriate for the level of student that I have in my classes, but only at the upper end. In other words, the technical level is a little higher than other texts I have examined. The demonstration is generally clear, although at times a bit too concise. In my opinion it would have been better if there had been more examples worked in a step by step manner. My students need that at least once for each problem type.
If you are looking for a book where the exercises are real-world, then this book is just right for you. The problems that appear at the ends of the sections are nearly always based on a plausible scenario that someone could face. While this is good, it would have been better if there were at least a few problems where only the numbers are given. This is a way to get the students started before they have to face the "story problem" complex.
I will not be adopting this book for my class. If I were to use it, I would have to provide handouts of specific examples that are less technical than what appears here.
... Read more

Product Description
This new text offers an Excel-focused approach to using statistics in business. All statistical concepts are illustrated with applied examples immediately upon introduction. Modern computing tools and applications are introduced, and the text maintains a strong focus on presenting statistical concepts as applied using Excel, enhanced by MegaStat, the Excel add-in created by the author and used as a standard for all McGraw-Hill/Irwin Business Statistics textbooks. The text enables students to take full advantage of Excel to develop and drive problem-solving skills. As a one-color paperback, it is also a competitive low-cost alternative to most of the higher-priced books in the market. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Oh dear.
This book is probably great for people who have a mathematical or scientific background, but the way concepts are communicated does not make much sense to people like me who are new to statistics and has not really picked up a math book since high school. A typical sentence that you are supposed to just read and go "oh yeah!" goes like this: "In discussing ANOVA, SSX becomes SSTotal... (followed by a formula)... where Xij is the ith observation in the jth group...". All clear. Thanks for that.

The CD tutorials sound like they were done while on Valium and Prof. Orris was sick to death of doing them over and over. Also, the tutorials are not compatible with a Mac so you will need access to a Windows PC.

To be avoided if you have the choice.

CAn't stand this book!!!The author is so blah in his tutorials he bores the computer to death
It's very hard to learn the basics with this book, I did better reading from two other books.But for Megastat you are forced to listen to the authors horrible drab voice, he sooooo needs to pay someone else to do these voice overs. Listening to umms and ahhs not only lengthens the study time but he sounds utterly bored with the material and confused.He could say "I won a million dollars" and still sounds as it was the most dull thing to happen on the planet.I hope your teacher doesn't choose this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Revision of the classic text in the field, adding two new chapters and thoroughly updating all others. The original structure is retained, and the book continues to serve as a combined text/reference. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Review of 2nd-hand book order
This is what I wrote in an e-mail to the supplier shortly after the book arrived:

.........I'm absolutely delighted to have this wonderful [even stats can be wonderful sometimes!] book in my hands. It has arrived weeks earlier than I was led to expect.



I note that it has been in your personal collection for many years and that you no longer have a use for it. For my own part, it was my favourite stats book when I was doing psychology in the 1960s and now, having a renewed need to deal with non-parametric stats, I searched but failed to find my old paperback edition of Siegel. There are quite a few badly written/incomprehensible stats books around so it's great to have this old friend back.



Many thanks for your prompt service. Also I much appreciate that the condition of the book is just as you described it if not better.



Best wishes,



Alan



Alan G. Hodgson,

SfCI

first popular book on nonparametrics
In the 1960s Siegel's book was the most popular and the most often cited.This is because except for Fraser it was the only useful test available to researchers.The book was written in a somewhat non-technical manner in order to be accessible to social scientists.At the time it became the standard book for all researchers.Theoretical books such as Hajek and Sidak's "Rank Tests" Came out at the end of the decade and the other good statistical books such as Hollander and Wolfe; Conover,; Lehmann; and Randles and Wolfe didn't come out until the 1970s.

So Siegel's book has historical significance but now the pratitioner and the theorists have many other good books to choose from.The text has been revised many times presumably to keep up with the research advances that have practical use for social scientists.

Excellent first book for nonparametric stat methods
This is an excellent first book for nonparametric statistical methods.It is a cookbook, but is a good introduction to the many nonparametric techniques for assessing data.These are oftentimes much better suited for your data than the standard stuff you get in intro to statistics.The book by David J. Sheskin or by Conover should your next book.

an easy-to-follow tool book, but use w/ caution
For a non math major (or stats major) user, this book offers an easy way to have works done quickly. But be cautious, an first-class cookbook does not necessarily yeild a first-class meal on your table.

Excellent nonparametric statistics book
This is (together with Empirical Methods for Artificial Intelligence by Paul R. Cohen) the best of the statistics books I read. ... Read more

Product Description

This text helps business students develop competitive advantages for use in their future careers as decision makers. Students learn to build models using logic and experience, produce statistics using Excel 2007 with shortcuts, and translate results into implications for decision makers. The author emphasizes communicating results effectively in plain English and with compelling graphics in the form of memos and PowerPoints.

Statistics, from basics to sophisticated models, are illustrated with examples using real data such as students will encounter in their roles as managers. A number of examples focus on business in emerging global markets with particular emphasis on China and India. Results are linked to implications for decision making with sensitivity analyses to illustrate how alternate scenarios can be compared. Condensing and distilling results makes results more usable. Chapters include screenshots to make it easy to conduct analyses in Excel 2007 with time-saving shortcuts expected in the business world.

PivotTables and PivotCharts, used frequently in businesses, are introduced from the start. Monte Carlo simulation is introduced early, as a tool to illustrate the range of possible outcomes from decision makers’ assumptions and underlying uncertainties. Model building with regression is presented as a process, adding levels of sophistication, with chapters on multicollinearity and remedies, forecasting and model validation, autocorrelation and remedies, indicator variables to represent segment differences, and seasonality, structural shifts or shocks in time series models. Special applications in market segmentation and portfolio analysis are offered, and an introduction to conjoint analysis is included. Nonlinear models are motivated with arguments of diminishing or increasing marginal response, and a chapter on logit regression models market share or proportions.

Customer Reviews (6)

I was waiting for more
My expectations with this book were higher, there is no doubt Ms Frazer has a very solid knowledge of quantitative analysis but this books lacks a lot of teaching methodology: there are reference of files and I don't know whether those files are delivered together with the book or not, the printing is blurry and examples are too small graphs, I need to figure out the numbers.If this is a teaching book it must be clearly stated where to locate all resources and it must be prioritized that readers must have a clear picture on examples and specially on printed excell examples for a better understanding.I've been a business teacher for 8 years now and I would not use this book as a reference.

Business Statistics for Competitive Advantage with Excel 2007: Basics, Model Building and Cases
Save your money. There are many better books out there describing Excel 2007 and Business.
The reproduction quality is poor.
The datasets are not readily available on the publishers site.

the right book for practictioners
If you have any background or experience in creating multivariate models you will find these book and easy read. It gives you all of the steps to do multivariate modeling and forecasting right. Best book I have read on the subject.

How to access the Excel files
Hello---

To access the Excel files, please go to Springer's website for instructions and their online location.

Prof Fraser

Where are the sample files?
I find it fairly difficult to study the book without sample files.
Is there a way to download the samples? ... Read more