Probability: For the Enthusiastic Beginner 1st Edition by David J. Morin (PDF)

Description

This book is written for high school and college students learning about probability for the first time. It will appeal to the reader who has a healthy level of enthusiasm for understanding how and why the various results of probability come about. All of the standard introductory topics in probability are covered: combinatorics, the rules of probability, Bayes’ theorem, expectation value, variance, probability density, common distributions, the law of large numbers, the central limit theorem, correlation, and regression. Calculus is not a prerequisite, although a few of the problems do involve calculus. These are marked clearly.The book features 150 worked-out problems in the form of examples in the text and solved problems at the end of each chapter. These problems, along with the discussions in the text, will be a valuable resource in any introductory probability course, either as the main text or as a helpful supplement.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author David Morin is a Lecturer and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Physics Department at Harvard University. He received his A.B. in mathematics from Brown University and his Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from Harvard University. He is the author of five books, including Introduction to Classical Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, 2008), Electricity and Magnetism (Cambridge University Press, co-author, 2013), and Special Relativity: For the Enthusiastic Beginner (2017). When not writing textbooks, thinking of physics limericks, or conjuring up new problems whose answers involve e or the golden ratio, he can be found running along the Charles River or hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Resources for his books, along with other educational material, can be found on his Harvard webpage.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is great in that it’s challenging and comprehensive. But unless you’ve either studied a lot of math in your life, or you’re a natural whiz, it’s a tough book to get through.I used it as a self-teaching tool to complement an applied statistics degree, and it definitely indulged my curiosity. I read all of it and did about 40% of the problems (some of the problems are pretty impossible for a lay-person like me). Let’s just say I was very happy to finish it and move on.

⭐Overall, the presentation of probability as a subject is very thoughrough and well done. Probability is an unintuitive and confusing subject for many and the author does a good job of walking through many examples solved in various different methods and explaining in much detail.Here come the caveats. The author uses the term “Expectation value” when he refers to the “Expected value” or simply the “Expectation”. The latter two are the accepted terminology used in the subject of Probability to describe the probability weighted average of a random variable. The former term, “Expectation value”, which the author uses repeatedly is only used in Quantum Mechanics. Although they measure pretty the same thing, it is bothersome that the author used a Physics terminology in a Probability textbook instead of following the convention. This probably has something to do with the author’s background in Physics.Secondly, the author uses some unconventional notations for combinatorics formulas. For the formula to calculate the number of possibilities in multiple i.i.d. random experiments, the author shows a formula N^n where N is the number of possible outcomes in a single experiment and n is the number of times the experiment is repeated. Generally, in Probability, either the letter “k” or “r” is used in place of n. N^n only has two letters so it may be ok but when you go to the more complicated formulas like N! / n!(N-n)! or (n+N-1)! / n!(N-1)! it becomes confusing especially when you try to remember the formulas by saying them in your head (n factorial divided by n factorial times n minus n factorial). You would have to remember which ones are big N and which are small n and maybe even say them explicitly in your head i.e. big N factorial divided by small n factorial times big N minus small n factorial. These confusions are easily avoided in conventional Probability by using the letters “k” or “r” instead. These are a couple of caveats are things to be improved possibly in the next edition. It’s a shame that the terminologies and notations are throwing one off in an otherwise very good introductory Probability textbook.

⭐Uniquely (and surprisingly) excellent book as an introduction or quick homer for the experienced.The book largely teaches by introducing de facto micro puzzles. If one is a beginner those micro-puzzles are accompanied by a large amount of text that motivate them and walk the reader through how to reason about them. An excellent way to learn and teach if one cares about acquiring deep understanding. But also (*): the structuring means that an experienced reader can skim though the fair bit of exposition, read question and then give an answer. If they understand. Hurray. You can compare to the solutions (often derived in multiple ways) and skim through the commentary. If one hesitates or misses — congratulations you have detailed discussion of the solution and usually multiple ways to reason to said solution.An excellent book and absolutely my first recommendation to anyone wanting to learn probability or refresh it – IF they enjoy deep understanding. Note: that’s not a judgment of character — if one merely wishes to quickly learn a bunch of rote formula for application elsewhere then this NOT the book for them. If one wants hyper efficient production of probabilistic results that they simply accept them there are other texts that suit their purposes better.But this text is top-knotch at what it aims to do.

⭐The subtitle “For the Enthusiastic Beginner”, may imply to some that this is an elementary book, but it is not. The subtitle refers to the fact that the subject is covered from the beginning with no required calculus (although some is used optionally). While not focusing on theorems and derivations, some are developed. The focus of the book is on understanding the basics of probability, with only a minimal amount of rigorous mathematical formalism. This is not to say that this is a slimmed down treatment devoid of formal mathematics, it is not.As with the other of Morin’s books this is another great teaching book. It is clearly written, includes a large number of solved problems and is a good choice as a self-education text, as well as a course textbook or adjunct to book used in a class. My only complaint is that I would have liked even more solved problems. Most of the solved problems are challenging and are included as illustrations of particular points, as opposed to giving the reader simpler problems in order to gain experience with applying the material in the book.What is in the book:Chapter 1 – Combinatorics – Determining how various combinations are computed (counting with and without repetitions and for ordered and disordered sets.)Chapter 2 – Probability – The definition of probability and determinations of “and” and “or” combinations, plus Bayes’ theorem, Stirlings’s formula.Chapter 3 – Expectation values, variance, standard deviation.Chapter 4 – Distributions (Uniform, Bernoulli, Binomial, Exponential, Poisson and Gaussian.Chapter 5 – The Gaussian Approximations, law of large numbers, central limit theorem.Chapter 6 – Correlation and Regression – Definition of correlation, correlation coefficient, regression lines.Appendices – Subtleties about probability, Euler’s number, approximation, important results, glossary.

⭐The book itself is very good and presents both probability and the underlying maths in a very accessible way.However, the Kindle edition does not actually work on a Kindle – my Kindle Voyage won’t even download it as it says the file format is not compatible. It does work with the Kindle apps, although feels more like a static PDF than a proper Kindle file as the text cannot be resized or made to reflow (the only resize is zooming the whole page)

⭐I am very pleased for this purchase. I like this author’s teaching method. It gives you many perspectives of the same thing enabling you to fully understand the topic. The book also has solved exercises something that helps digest the knowledge

⭐Covers the main topics of probability very well, so I do recommend it.It’s also well printed with good font size.

⭐Should be every students first book in Probabilty theory ! It was a real pleasure to work through this book.

⭐Probably the clearest exposition on beginner level probability out there… and not through a rip off publisher! For a (nice) change…

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