Wednesday, May 25, 2005

A Matter of Chance

Well, here I wish to recommend a book on the probability theory.
A Matter of Chance
By
K. D. Pawte
Publication of Information Directorate,
C.S.I.R.
Probability theory has wide-spread applications in almost all spheres of human endeavor.
Pure Science, Technology, Industries, Military, Management and HR.... all fields make extensive use of a number of mathematical techniques and models to achieve optimum efficiency.It is also has ample significance in our day-to-day life, esp. in sports.
The book gives an introductory approach to various concepts in this expanding field.
It begins with basic definitions such as sample point/space, chance, reliability, relative
frequency, randomness, events, permutations & combinations, operational curve, tree
diagrams,....etc.; moving on to advanced concepts such as conditional probability, Bernoulli Trials, Pascal Distribution, Binomial distribution, Poisson distribution, Gaussian distribution, Markov Process, and so on. Next come the various applications of the probability theory, such as applications in Newtonian Physics, Sensitivity studies, MTBF, MTTF, PERT, Queuing theory, and Operations Research. The last part is devoted to applications in cutting-edge fields such as Genetics and Quantum Theory.
Although the book does require some background in mathematics and statistics, with a little effort any one can make the subject matter easy.