Reviews (13)

Outstanding, updated and excellent
I have used this book in my class on Experimental Design since 1997. Among all the texts I have tried to use to make the teaching of this subject more precise and understandable, this book from Dr. Montgomery have proven to be the more appropriated. The book has new exercises, more teacher resources, and is now more software oriented, something that I found very useful for my students in Dominican Republic.
Good introduction to an important subject
This reviewer spent 10 years at Arizona State University and while there, took over 70 classes.As an engineer, I took loads of science and engineering classes; many of which I did not need.There was one class I took only because I had to; Design of Experiments, an industrial engineering graduate class taught by Dr. Douglas Montgomery.We used this book (an earlier edition though) in this class.The class was great and the book was actually quite easy to understand.Now, as an engineer at Intel, I have come to discover that this the class by Dr. Montgomery, and the book from that class, is more useful than any other class / textbook that I have ever taken.Since Dr. Montgomery cannot teach all of us about statistics within engineering design, we can instead read this highly readable book of his.

EXCELLENT BOOK
This is the best book for beginners to DOE, students and for future reference.
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Subjects:  1. Engineering - Industrial    2. Experimental design    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Technology    5. Technology & Industrial Arts    6. Mechanical Engineering & Materials    7. Technology / Engineering / Industrial   

Reviews (10)

You need to see BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE
This fourth Tufte title continues his themes of pairing image with text, focusing on how information can be transmitted graphically and focusing on 'sparklines': data-intense, word-like graphics. Perhaps it's impossible to adequately describe this concept using plain print: for more, you need to see BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE, blending cartography, diagrams, science and art in a winning survey of measurement-based images.
Recycled?No problem!
I for one am the opposite of the people who read this and, as fans of Tufte's other works, felt let down.There seem to be a lot of complaints about recycled material.Yes, a lot of stuff in here is found in his other books.Yes, his whole Cognitive Style of PowerPoint pamphlet is reproduced here (I think?).No, I don't think that's a problem and in fact I think this is his best work ever.
Beautiful Figures, Shallow Words
I was disappointed by "Beautiful Evidence". It seems to me to be a medium primarily for the reproduction of many gorgeous drawings, graphs, and tables done by others and the author, and an opportunity to make a rant on PowerPoint. Yes, many bad figures have been created and Dr. Tufte has made valid points and good suggestions, but they are not as densely presented as one would expect from his own words.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computers    4. Graphic Methods    5. Visual communication   

Reviews (6)

Very Satisfied
I am highly pleased with my purchase. The item is in wonderful condition and the delivery was FaSt! Wow. Great Experience!

You have to start somewhere...
Tobey and Slater's 'Beginning Algebra' text is used by my college where I tutor mathematics in the first course in Algebra, often the first course in Algebra many of our students have ever taken.It is very much a beginning course, as the course itself carries no official 'credit' (it is a zero-level course, as a prerequisite to other science and mathematics courses, that many students place out of on the basis of assessment scores). You can do better than this!
This widely-acclaimed textbook by Tobey & Slater is a valiant attempt to make elementary algebra both interesting and anxiety-free. I have been using this textbook [both 4th and now 5th editions] to teach in over 30 classes so far at aRead more

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - Elementary    3. Algebra - General    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (6)

Best book on interest rate models
This is the best book available on interest rate models. Very detailed. Much more focused and readable than Rebonato's book. More pragmatic and explicit than Musiela and Rutkowski. Not as theoretical as Hunt and Kennedy. James and Webber also looks very good, but I'm not that familiar with it. All other books have only bits and pieces on interest rates.

The best book I have read on the subject
With all the due respect to the other authors I would say that if one is interested in a good theoretical book whihc is also good on the implementation side then the book of Brigo and Mercurion is definetly the best book I have ever read on the subject. New stuff and nice overview: hard to beat!
In the late nineties I went through Brigo's innovative work on stochastic nonlinear filtering with differential geometry techniques. I was favorably impressed by results and style, particularly in his dissertation and in his 'geometry in present day science' very readable overview. Interesting results are found and nicely told with accurate -but not pointlessly complicated - advanced mathematics for the problems at hand, I reasoned. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Finance    3. Group Theory    4. Mathematics    5. Probability & Statistics - General    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Statistics    8. Business & Economics / Finance    9. Interest rates    10. JEL classification: G12, G13, E43    11. MSC (2000): 60H10, 60H35, 62P05, 65C05, 65C20, 90A09    12. calibration    13. pricing    14. stochastic calculus   

Reviews (52)

Almost Perfect
This review is strictly for the 5th Edition of Calculus: Early Transcendentals (with Tools for Enriching Calculus Video CD-ROM, iLrn Homework, and vMentor)
A great math book to own
The book has a great structure.It connects well to bring a person to advance his math skill into college-level.The structure is great and easy to follow.The proofs are clear.Different from most of math textbooks where examples are easier than exercises, this book provides the same level of difficulty on both.Although the author starts skipping proofs in multivariable calculus, he explains the reason.My recommendation is that he tie-up the structure in multivariable calculus portion.It definitely will be a 5-stars book.

The Calculus Bible
If you need to buy one calculus book... buy this one.It's got everything you will need for learning basic calculus.I was referring to this book constantly, both while taking basic math, and in more advanced courses in physics and engineering, when I would need to go back and re-learn how to integrate a particular type of problem.I was actually quite shocked to see that the last several reviews rated this book quite poorly... everyone who took math with me using this book loved it.Then again, we were all engineers, so we wanted to be doing this kind of stuff. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (135)

Good book if you have the solutions manual
I bought this book for self study. It has ton's of examples that really help out. But like some of the other reviewers have pointed out... the book can be extremely confusing at times. That's when i reach for the solutions manual that goes with it. It has a step by step break down of the odd numbered problems. The break down's aren't 100% complete and they skip a lot of the algebra parts, but it shows all the calculus stuff.
Just because the subject is hard doesn't make the book bad
The majority of complaints about this text tend to be biased towards people who 1) have problems with the material w/o this book 2) HAD to take the class and didnt do well 3)have never seen what else is out there for calculus text
One of the best!
I underdstand that calculus is a very complicated subject and most people who have had to study it don't even want to remember about it. I guess that is the reason why this excellent book is not admired very much. However, it IS and probably will continue to be one of the very best introductory courses. I give it 5 stars because I don't think that there is a book without any weaknesses but in this case they are negligible. Overall this is a very good book and I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Calculus    2. Mathematics    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Calculus & mathematical analysis    5. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (25)

Great at explaining concepts!
This book is really a masterpiece when it comes to explaining the concepts!The author makes sure that students don't just memorize formulas, but rather that they understand why the formulas work.I used this book to pass the DANTES statistic exam.

not for beginners.......
This book is not very user friendly. If you have troubles with math like me then this book is not for you. I would probably recommend a book like "for dummies, or a schuam's at the beginnnig level then reread this book, and it will be a little clearer.

Stats Book
I was really suprise that it arrived on time so that i can do my homework assignments. The stats book came in good condition like what the seller described. Even though it didnt come with a cd, buti'm still happy knowing that it's an instructor's edition. I was so surprised when my sister pointed that out to me.
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Subjects:  1. Mathematics    2. Probability & Statistics - General    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Statistics    5. Mathematics / Statistics    6. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (20)

"Not Even Wrong" for Dummies
I read this book a month or so after finishing "Not Even Wrong" by mathematician Peter Woit.Both volumes deal with the same subject: the failure of string theory to make testable predictions that would allow it to be proven or falsified.Both works are excellent.This one has the advantage of being far more understandable for laypeople. Finally the truth
After years of spirited propaganda by string theorists purporting to have stumbled upon the ultimate theory of nature, we now have a revealing, tell-all tale that throws back the covers on what has turned out to be the most intellectually disengenuous ruse in the history of science - the continual presentation of string theory as the be-all, end-all theory of everything -despite its utter lack of predictive power, its failure to predict dark energy, its myriad of versions, and its reliance on anthropic reasoning. Smolin, along with Peter Woit (who also dared to go against the 'establishment') should be thanked for bringing this house-of-crashing cards to the public's attention. Despite pitiful and below-the-belt attacks and outright dismissal by members of the 'stringy' establishment, including a scathing and unprovoked attack by a theorist from Harvard who sees a threat in works of this nature, Smolin gives us a thoughful and provoking look at the many failures (and occasional mathematical successes) of the most overhyped theory in the history of science.

Great book, but not perfect
This is a superb, five star, technical book. Smolin starts by describing the five, big, unsolved problems of physics. Then proceeds to a wide ranging overview of the last three decades of theoretical and experimental work, assessing how much (if any) progress has been made toward answering the five big problems. String theory from this perspective gets a failing grade. Smolin's writing is always clear and lucid, providing non-physicists with at least a modicum of understanding of complex issues. If you have any interest in modern physics, I urge you to read this book.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. History    3. Methodology    4. Modern - 20th Century    5. Physics    6. Physics (General)    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. String models    10. Science / Physics   

Reviews (33)

Bridge the gap
Statistics books are either too hard or way too basic for non-statisticians.
Lots of theory, not enough application
I've read the other reviews and I generally agree: This is a well written stats book, especially if you are trying to learn the underlying theories rather than just randomly banging around on a keyboard. However, don't expect this book to be a particularly good choice if you need to do anything much more difficult than a one-way ANOVA.Even though this book is 770+ pages long, Field doesn't address realistic scenarios. For example, even though he devotes about 210 pages to all sorts of ANOVA, there is no mention of repeated measures ANCOVA, which is not that unusual. In some places, he seems to suggest that something is really difficult (e.g., contrasts in repeated measures ANOVA) and then offers only weak examples of what to do about it with no mention of how to report what you've done. In fact, he offers very few examples of how to report results, and in some cases, his running examples are nonsignificant so his reporting examples stop short.All together, this is a good stats theory book with an intro to SPSS, but it's not the kind of book that is going to get you through many real-world analyses. I would recommend this book to undergraduates and graduate students who feel they need some more background, but folks in the field are better off looking elsewhere.

This was exactly what I was looking for!
The author provides clear explanation of various statistic techniques; what each of them means, when to be applied, and how to use them in a very understandable way. This was what I was exactly looking for. Good examples with step by step guide with actual dialog boxes from the SPSS window are also very helpful. I really like it a lot. It was a good priced book considering what it provides. Best stat book I've bought ever! Thank you!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Programming Languages - General    4. Research    5. Sociology    6. Statistics    7. Mathematical & statistical software    8. Probability & statistics    9. Social Science / Research   

Reviews (26)

A great book for SAS and statistics beginners
.. that is of little use for advanced users. Most of the book's chapters (1-4, 10-19) deal with general-purpose SAS programming techniques, and the rest introduce one to REG, ANOVA, TTEST, CORR, FACTOR and LOGISTIC procedures. Discussion isnon-technical and never in-depth, with the short shrift given to PROC REG especially disappointing. Many capabilities of selected procedures are not discussed, and, of course, a host of other important SAS/STAT procedures do not even make the cut. (MODEL? And speaking of non-statistical ones: what do you make of a book that devotes 200+ pages to SAS programming tips, including a chapter on merging datasets, and whose index has no mention of PROC SQL?) Overall, I think that the book is a friendly, clear and well-organized (as is typical of Ron Cody's writing) introduction for beginners, e.g. college stats students, but more seasoned statisticians should go straight to SAS/STAT User's Guide (available online). Don't even think about considering this (pricey) volume an up-to-date or reasonably broad reference on SAS's statistical capabilities.

Blergh
I did not like this book. The organization was abysmal, and I decided to sell it back to the college bookstore for use by future hapless students, because it is not good as a reference guide.
no fancy graphics
[A review of the 5th EDITION 2005.]
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Subjects:  1. Data processing    2. Mathematical statistics    3. Mathematics    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. SAS (Computer file)    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Mathematics / Statistics    8. Probability & statistics   

Subjects:  1. Science/Mathematics    2. Algebra   

Reviews (14)

Great Book
I used this text in my MBA stats class and have found it to be very informative and useful.I found the examples for Excel and Minitab to be well written and of great use.I would recommend this book for anyone who uses statistics on a frequent basis or simply would like a good reference manual in their library.

12th ed. has problems
The 12th edition of this book contains a surprising number of errors.I am currently using this book for a statistics course in an MBA program.We are twelve chapters into the book now and in most every chapter I have found a mistake; more often than not there are multiple mistakes.What is worse is that the majority of the mistakes are in the practice problems which are where the student learns to apply the skills.This serves to create confusion and frustration on the student's part.Some of the mistakes are sloppy editing while others more significant are providing wrong information.The editors need to take another look at this book and the authors should also take note.

Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics with CD-Rom
The book I received did not have the cd the book was in used condition not good as stated.It was ok.It would have been nice to have the cd. It needs to be a little more detailed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Mathematics    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. Statistics    6. Business & Economics / Statistics    7. Business mathematics & systems    8. Economics    9. Probability & statistics   

Editorial Review

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Read more

Reviews (1164)

Fluff and Nonsense
The underlying theme of this book seems to be that if one can come up with enough provocative theses and find some support, however tenuous, for them, perhaps one can write a thin, light weight book which will attract attention and thereby gain one's 15 minutes of fame.
Compelling, but superficial arguments
The storytelling and economic science are the backbone of this compelling book and the scattered topics aren't enough to minimize Levitt's or Dubner's effort.The superficiality of the ideas is, however, and the wild concepts that the self-proclaimed freakonomist advances are easily put to question by simple thought experiments.For instance, the most controversial proposition that Levitt makes is that the legalization of abortion in the '70s was the single most important factor in the steep decline of crime in the US in the '90s, and that can be scrutinized easily.Levitt says that the people who would have been born to those mothers in the '70s would have gone on to live lives of the unwanted and been more likely to commit crimes in their late teens and early twenties (the '90s).Since millions were aborted, they weren't there to commit those crimes later.This eerie idea may be hard to stomach, but that's not the reason it should be doubted.If the aborted children would have a higher chance of becoming criminals, they would, no doubt, also have a higher chance of becoming poor, but the poverty rates for people above 18 remained relatively stable through the '80s and since.
It's about time Statistician speak out
I originaly bought this for my son (in college on the mainland) based on an article I read in the sunday paper. When I saw it in the library I decided to pick it up and see if the book was any good. Well I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was a very worthy book. After all how many people would ever consider a Statistician's opinion, well this is one time where you should. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economics (Specific Aspects)    5. Economics - General    6. General    7. Popular Culture - General    8. Probability & Statistics - General    9. Business & Economics / General   

Reviews (25)

Be aware of the errors of the book
The book consists of two parts: probability (the first 250 pages) and statistics. The first part is extremely well written; however, the second part (I read page 427 totally so far) is not satisfying.The theorm derivations have missing steps, and not easy to follow.Moreover, it has ERRORS (which are not listed in the errata available in the authors' website).For example, Definition 8.3.16 of monotone likelihood ratio is wrong (page 891): it can only be non-decreasing (cannot be non-increasing).With the wrong definition, no way to approve Thm 8.3.17.I want to ask the author:how did you write down that proofby referring the wrong definition?Another example: Line 5 of example 8.3.19.You cannot draw the conclusion by using the analysis in Example 8.3.18.Instead, you have to use the analysis in Thm 8.3.17!Third example, the definition of power function is not accruate.The definition of power should be independant of H0 or H1.(In fact, the author did a poor job in give the insight of power function.Without such an insight, no way to solution example 8.3.19).Forth example, the second 8.3.4 on p-values is poorly written.The author does not bother to point out that p-values is the smallest level at which we can reject null hypothesis with given samples.Instead, the author's definition on p-values based on an formula whose meaning is very hard to understand!Do you know how many hours I have to spend to figure out these?
Very Good Text
Very good intro to grad level stats - does not use any real analysis.

One of the best textbooks
The is one great textbook and is as good as Cormen's introduction to algorithms. It does not require advanced math. I was a biology major and did not learn much Calculus at all. I had to use it in a graduate statistics class. Fortunately we used this book. It is very easy to follow. It gives very good examples and explains them well but not wordy. The exercises are excellent. This book is definitely not an applied statistics book. But it really helps you to understand applied statistics. It is absolutely not just another dry math book. I also want to say that this book is for newcomers. Neither me nor many of my classmates had statistical training before we took the course. When instructors were not clear about something, we always went back to this book and always found an answer. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Mathematical statistics    2. Mathematics    3. Probabilities    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Statistics    7. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (19)

Very well written
I liked this book because it does a great job explaining the concepts and the reasoning behind the mathematical formulae. Other books such as "The Elements of Statistical Learning" toss the Math formulas at you and expect you to figure out the significance or the importance of 'em. The book does not shy away from Math - but does a great job presenting it.

Excellent introduction to top machine learning techniques
Duda's 'Pattern Classification' is an excellent book for an introduction to a range of the most powerful and popular machine learning methods. Obviously it doesn't go into very many details of each method - being just one book - but it covers the most important things to know imo. Not quite the 20% that covers 80% of the needs, but close. It is well written and the illustrations are generally of high quality. If you don't want to drown in a nightmare of details and exceptions, but rather get a good basic understanding of the various techniques, this book is an excellent buy.

A good introduction to pattern recognition, but not a bible.
[1] This book is good as an introduction to Pattern Recognition, at undergraduate level (compared with the level of Fukunaga's -Introduction to Statistical Pattern Recognition-).
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Subjects:  1. Computers - General Information    2. Data Processing - Optical Data Processing    3. Electronics - Digital    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. Pattern Recognition    6. Pattern recognition systems    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Statistical decision    9. Technology    10. Mathematics for scientists & engineers    11. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (9)

Great step by step
I enjoyed this book, especially since I had a non-fluent English speaking professor we all looked into our books and read the complete, easy, and understanding chapters. this is one of the best math books I have ever had in my education experience.

Using for a class currently...
I just purchased this book brand newa few months ago.The only problem is very heavy and bulky to carry around.I appreciate Blitzer's no nonsense writing and by the way no highlighting necessary.All the key points are highlighted and pointed out.He also includes in-text exercises as well. I figure the book was worth my money but at least I understand what is printed.I also appreciate the mention of real-life applications indicated in the exercises and the sectional readings.I am not only reading the sections but appreciating all the bonus essays and definition boxes.

Thinking Mathamatically Book
This book is in great condition.There is no highlighting throughout the book, and the cover and pages are in really good condition.It looks brand new.The seller was also very helpful and responded to my emails very quickly. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Education    2. General    3. Mathematics    4. Mathematics (General)    5. Reference    6. Textbooks    7. Mathematics / General   

Reviews (4)

Very poorly written.
I had to buy this book for an introductory graduate stats class. This book assumes you have some knowledge of stats and so provides very brief explanations for most concepts. This is a big problem for students with little or no stats background. Disappointing
The text we used for our undergrad Stats class covered the exact same material as this text, which we used for a graduate level class and which cost about 60 bucks more, but the undergrad text was written more clearly, concisely and logically.We even found a mistake in one of the tables in the back of this book.

An "easy" introduction but lacks content
Author: Computer Science/Mathematics Undergraduate at Cameron UniversityRead more

Subjects:  1. Mathematical statistics    2. Mathematics    3. Probabilities    4. Probability & Statistics - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Statistics    7. Probability & statistics   

Subjects:  1. Algebra    2. Algebra - Elementary    3. Algebra - Intermediate    4. Mathematics    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Mathematics / Algebra / General   

Reviews (13)

A chaotic way to (not) learn math
Algebra 1/2 is deeply flawed in its approach to learning. I don't recommend it for anyone. While it claims to take an "incremental" approach, it doesn't introduce and build on new concepts in an orderly fashion, as you might expect, given the title. Instead, it takes a "shotgun" approach, with the student getting hit with new BB-sized factoids almost at random.
And you thought you hated math before...