Probability & Statistics for Engineers & Scientists

Goals, Approach and Mathematical Level The seventh edition emphasizes and illustrates the use of probabilistic models and statistical methodology that is employed in countless applications in all areas of science and engineering. There remains an important balance between theory and methodology that is featured in the text. We do not avoid the use of some theory but our goal is to let the mathematics provide insight rather than be a distraction. We feel that engineers and scientists are trained in mathematics and thus the providing of mathematical support when needed keeps the pedagogy from becoming a series of illustrated recipes in which the concepts are not understood and could never be applied or extended by the student except within very narrow bounds. The text contains an abundance of exercises in which the methodology discussed is illustrated by the use of real-life scientific scenarios and data sets. The complete set of data files which accompany the text are available for download from the text companion website, located at http://www.prenhall.com/walpole . Though we attempt to appeal to engineers, the exercises are not confined to engineering applications. The student is exposed to problems encountered in many sciences including social sciences and biomedical applications. The motivation here stems from the fact that trained engineers are more and more becoming exposed to nontraditional settings, including areas like bioinformatics and bioengineering. While we do let calculus play an important role but it should be noted that its use is confined to elementary probability theory and properties of probability distributions (Chapters 3, 4, 6, and 7). In addition, a modest amount of matrix algebra is used to support the linear regression material in Chapters 11 and 12. This is despite the fact that an "optional" section appears in Chapter 11 that includes the development of the multiple linear regression model with more substantive use of matrices. The student who uses this text should have completed one semester or two quarters of differential and integral calculus. An exposure to matrix algebra would be helpful but not necessary if the course content excludes the aforementioned optional section. Content and Course Planning The text is designed for either a one or two semester course. A reasonable curriculum for a one semester course might include Chapters 1 through 10. One may even choose to teach an early portion of Chapter 11 in order to introduce the student to the concept of simple linear regression. Chapter 1 is an overview of statistical inference, sampling and data analysis. Indeed, some very rudimentary aspects of experimental design are included, along with an appreciation of graphics and certain vital characteristics of data collection. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with basic probability and discrete and continuous random variables. Chapters 5 and 6 cover specific discrete and continuous distributions with illustrations of their use and relationships among them. Chapter 7 deals with transformations of random variables. This chapter is listed as "optional" and would only be covered in a more theoretical course. This chapter is clearly the most mathematical chapter in the text. Chapter 8 includes additional material on graphical methods as well as an introduction to the notion of a sampling distribution. ThetandFdistributions are introduced along with motivation regarding their use in chapters that follow. Chapters 9 and 10 contain material on one and two sample point and interval estimation and hypothesis testing. The flexibility in a single semester course lies in the option of exclusion of Chapter 7 as well as teaching only a subset of the several specific discrete and continuous distributions discussed and illustrated in Chapters 5 and 6. There is additional flexibility involved in dealing with Chapter 9 where maWalpole, Ronald E. is the author of 'Probability & Statistics for Engineers & Scientists' with ISBN 9780130415295 and ISBN 0130415294.