Probability and Statistics: A Course for Physicists and Engineers

by Arak Mathai

This book offers an introduction to concepts of probability theory, probability distributions relevant in the applied sciences, as well as basics of sampling distributions, estimation and hypothesis testing. As a companion for classes for engineers and scientists, the book also covers applied topics such as model building and experiment design.

Contents
Random phenomena
Probability
Random variables
Expected values
Commonly used discrete distributions
Commonly used density functions
Joint distributions
Some multivariate distributions
Collection of random variables
Sampling distributions
Estimation
Interval estimation
Tests of statistical hypotheses
Model building and regression
Design of experiments and analysis of variance
Questions and answers

604 pages, ebook

Published December 18, 2017

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this appears to be a textbook, teachers may be a more accurate target audience for this introduction to probability relevant to the applied sciences. Including basics of sampling distributions, estimation, and hypothesis testing, the topics here arose in a course for teachers in Kerala, India. “These topics were suggested by the college teachers themselves so that they … could be better prepared to teach the material in their classes”, states the preface. This then companion text for future practitioners or their instructors begins from set theory basics and extends to model-building and experiment design. The two or more semesters of material here range from the undergraduate to early graduate level.

This English text has some notation, verbiage, and grammar idiosyncrasies that separate it from similar texts. For instance, the relative complement of A with respect to a set B is notated AC, rather than the clearer binary operation B ∖ A. (AC is the complement of A relevant to what set?) ...

[Look for my entire review at MAA Reviews]