Fundamentals of Applied Probability Theory [Hardcover]

Alvin W. Drake (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill College (June 1, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070178151
• ISBN-13: 978-0070178151
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,279,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars finally I understood statistics, April 8, 1998

By 

Philip Greenspun (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fundamentals of Applied Probability Theory (Hardcover)

Probability is easy. It is formal and mathematical. Statistics always seemed impossibly complex, however, and I never could get the subject to stick in my head, though I'd tried several times over a 10-year period. Then I read this book. Drake is concise and clear.

Note that this book is the text for the introductory probability course at MIT taken by engineers and business students. Drake is one of the best and most beloved teachers ever to haved worked in the electrical engineering department.

I loved his book so I took his class. I loved the class so I eventually TA'd the class.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drake is a good book to learn Elementary Probability, January 3, 2007

By 

erase_ego (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fundamentals of Applied Probability Theory (Hardcover)

It is a great book for learning Probability theory. It assumes no background other than elementary mathematics.

As of Jan. 2007 used copies are listed on Amazon at more than $70. Please don't waste your money, since a scanned PDF version of this book (as separate chapters) is freely available at ocw.mit.edu

Table of Contents:
1. Events, Sample Space and Probability - Page 1
2. Random Variables - Page 41
3. Transforms and some applications to Sums of Independent Random Variables - Page 97
4. Some basic probabilistic processes - Page 123
5. Discrete-State Markov Processes - Page 163
6. Some Fundamental Limit Theorems - Page 203
7. An Introduction to Statistics - Page 229
Appendix 1 - Further Reading - Page 265
Appendix 2 - Common PDF's PMF's and their means, variances and Transforms - Page 271
Index - Page 277

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changes your way of thinking, August 26, 2009

By 

Dewey M. Sasser (Charlton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fundamentals of Applied Probability Theory (Hardcover)

I took Al Drake's probability class and it changed my way of thinking about theories, events and decisions (not just in math and decision theory, but in life).

Drakes takes a deceptively complex, non-intuitive subject and makes it straightforward.

This book is a well written, *understandable* text on probability. I've loaned this book to 2 other people who did not take the class and they reported it excellent as well. I highly recommend it.