Introduction to the Practice of Statistics & CD-Rom [Hardcover]

David S. Moore (Author), George P. McCabe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0716735024 | ISBN-13: 978-0716735021 | Publication Date: July 15, 1998 | Edition: 3rd

Moore and McCabe's best-selling Introduction to the Practice of Statistics set a new standard for introductory statistics courses by focusing on data analysis, statistical reasoning and the way statistics is used in everyday life. For the first time, students saw clearly that statistics was not just a series of formula-driven exercises, but a powerful tool for understanding the world we live in. Now this groundbreaking textbook has been fully revised and updated to meet the needs of today's students and instructors while retaining its emphasis on working with real data, the core concepts of statistics and the way statistics is actually used in practice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DAVID S. MOORE and GEORGE P. MCCABE Purdue University, USA --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 896 pages
• Publisher: W. H. Freeman; 3rd edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716735024
• ISBN-13: 978-0716735021
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #758,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

119 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars take another look, April 10, 2003

By 

yettobeseen (Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 4th Edition (Book & CD-ROM) (Hardcover)

This introductory statistics book is unlike any other I read, so it is understandable why it received negative reviews. First off, it deals with "the practice" of statistics, so don't expect mathematical explanations of the statistical analyses presented. Second, it thoroughly explains the conceptual basis and applied aspects of statistics, so don't be surprised if it is a bit more wordy or repetitive than other statistics books. Reenforcement is necessary when learning a new language, and it doesn't assume mathematical formulas are understandable without explanations.

Its highlight is its coverage of collecting data. Most statistics books don't even mention how data is collected, or should be collected; they only show you how to analyze it. General principles of sampling and experimentation are licidly covered, as are the implications of using these two fundamentally different approaches to research.

The second strong point of this book is its general overview of statistics. It shows how different analyses are used for different types of data (categorical vs. quantitative), although the general premise is the same--relationship between variables.

Finally, it makes a connection between real data and theoretical distributions. Most statistics books start off saying, "assume the data follow a normal distribution" but real data never does. Moore and McCabe explains how we can use a mathematical formula to model our real data, and the advantages and limitations of doing so. This is the bridge necessary to place the theoretical world of probability and mathematical statistics into the real world of research and data analysis.

This is still my favorite introductory statistics book, it is unique and inciteful, while others are clones and impractical. It is for researchers, not statisticians. If you are a researcher and have reviewed many introductory statistics books you will see the value of this one in explaining how statistics work, instead of just showing formulas.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another well-written and popular text by David Moore, March 30, 2008

By 

Michael R. Chernick "statman31147" (Holland PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics w/CD-ROM (Hardcover)

David Moore is a Professor of Statistics at Purdue University. He is both a great teacjer and a scholar. In addition to one or two well-written advanced books he has written a number of high quality introductory statistics books and has led the movement toward AP statistics in the high schools and active learning methods for tesching statistics at the elementary, middle and high school levels as well as at the universities.

This book is a new edition of his highly successful introductory text. This is only slightly more advanced than the text "The Basic Practice of Statistics" also written by Moore. This edition can only be as good or better than the one U have read. The inclusion of a CD for use in the course can only be a significant edition to this applied text.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great choice for a high school (AP) statistics course, April 20, 2006

By 

K. Rees - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introduction to the Practice of Statistics w/CD-ROM (Hardcover)

I am a teacher of AP Statistics (since its inception in 1997) with a master's degree in statistics. I agree with many of the previous reviews that this is NOT a mathematical statistics textbook. If you need a textbook that goes through the mathematics, especially the theory, behind the statistics then you need to look at another textbook. This book was designed for a statistics course for non-mathematicians (especially students with no Calculus background), which is why it is not terse and it has lots of repetitive problems. I have used four different textbooks for AP Statistics as a teacher and this is the only one I have ever used that got consistent rave reviews from my students. For a high school student with only Algebra II or pre-Calculus as a background, this is a very readable and easy to follow textbook, as opposed to other AP Stat textbooks which incorporate too much of the theory for this level of student. Many of my students have told me that this was the only math textbook that they have ever been able to read, and understand, on their own.