Publisher's Synopsis
This textbook provides an introductory course in probability and statistical inference. Its emphasis in the probability portion of the text is on developing a clear and concrete understanding of probability distributions as models for real-world situations. This understanding of probability distributions is then used to develop the basic principles of statistical inference and to apply these ideas in a wide variety of applications.;A particular feature of the book is the author's use of exercises to develop the reader's understanding of important concepts. Each exercise comes with two levels of solutions: the first level consists of hints, clarifications, and references to relevant discussions in the text; while the second level provides detailed and complete solutions.;The author presupposes no previous knowledge on behalf of the reader and carefully discusses each of the main concepts from probability and statistics as they are introduced. As a result, this book makes an excellent introduction to this central component of any curriculum which includes quantitative methods.
