Customer Reviews

Probability and Stochastic Processes: A Friendly Introduction for Electrical and Computer Engineers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I taught an undergraduate course in probability and stochastic processes last summer using this book. This book is so clearly written and laid out that for the first time in 20 years of teaching I could lecture directly from the book rather than having to spend the time to make up a set of notes. The many worked out problems are very helpful in illustrating concepts. All in all a great book.

I had to buy this book for a class for my EE degree- I must say as much as I hate probability and the like, this book was one of the best on the subject that I've ever come across. It really feels as though this is a 'friendly' book, just like it says in its title. I didn't give it a full five stars, because I think it should include a few more worked out examples per section. Nevertheless, it still has a fair number of worked examples and also quizes which are solved at the end of the book. All and all, I really enjoyed the book and consequently the course.

Let me begin by saying this book is written at a level for senior level B.S. and first year M.S. engineering (not math) students. It is the best book I've seen for introducing probability, random variables and related concepts to this student demographic (particularly to Elec. Eng. or Comp. Eng majors). It has all the introductory concepts and lays out the foundation for later subject matter in a seemless, easy to read and friendly manner. To qualify this statement, let me say that I had taken a similar engineering-related probability course in school a few years back that covered most of the same topics found in the Yates and Goodman book. I was confused about several issues even after I completed the course. It wasn't until I found this text and began reading it that all the questions and doubts I'd had went away. This text doesn't cover more advanced probability related concepts like entropy, mutual information and a host of others. What it does do is clearly provide you with the foundation in probability so that you can later read other more "involved" books like Stark and Woods or Papoulis and Pillai without the agony.

Although the examples are good, theorems, properties, and so on, are nicely organized and highlighted, there are no solutions for problems.

It is not just this book, but I'm really tired of spending hours upon hours doing questions for which I will have no idea if I completed them correctly. I like to do homework to identify and fill the gaps in my knowledge, not to do best guesses and merely hope that I will eventually get the solutions against which to compare my answers. By then, the exam (or quiz) is already right around the bend and new material is already being covered.

Hardly a "friendly" and "introductory" text. The language, examples and feel of this book are more suited for someone with prior training in this subject. For the student facing the unfortunate situation of having to learn with this text it may be better to get another book and learn the material from it rather than waste a large amount of time with this one. For folks who already understand the subject I'm sure it's quite good.

I have taken three classes on this subject, and I am confident in my recomendation of this text. For a first year M.S. class, I had the misfortune of having the instructor use Stark and Woods, which is overly complicated, dense, and in my opinion, the authors attempt to make the subject more difficult than it really is by including advanced topics, such as parameter estimation, in introductory chapters. This book, on the other hand, goes over all the basics in a very clean and presentable manner. I picked up this book during the class using Stark and Woods, and my performance increased drastically. This is an excellent reference and text for self study. A real life saver as well. Only complaint: it would be nice to have solutions to select problems. Most people will tell you that the only way to learn the subject is through practice, but as far as learning pricipals, this book is spot on.

So from a student that actually is using this book, this is terrible. Very few examples, skimming over content, and no answers! WHAT GOOD IS THIS BOOK IF YOU ONLY USE IT TO GET YOUR HOMEWORK PROBLEMS FROM THE CLASS?! I've learned more from searching wikipedia on the subject than reading this book. Maybe schools should choose books based on their content and their help to students rather than some sort of corporate money game with the book companies. I could only imagine those are the people giving this book a good review, or they have never even cracked it open and tried to learn probability for their first time from it. Thank you for teaching me nothing and wasting my time.

First, I suppose I should mention that I am a student, and not a lecturer. Next, I'll sum up my opinion of this book by saying that it is a terrible stand-alone way of attempting to learn the material.

My largest concern with the text is that, past the cover of the book, it makes no attempt to be an introduction to anything. My main gripe in this respect is that the author doesn't attempt to explain the notation, beyond a very brief review here and there. A review of what, exactly, I'm not entirely sure. This wouldn't present a huge obstacle if one had a competent professor, but in my situation I was stuck with a lecturer who felt the book was good enough to teach directly, and I mean directly, from. Considering the huge dearth of examples in the text, this can create a massive problem for students that are actually new to the material.

Which prompts my next issue with the book. There are next to no examples for many of the sections. Many sections contain one example, which is useless and inapplicable to the homework problems and quiz problems (Which are all useless and inapplicable themselves without a solutions manual, especially when your professor doesn't take the time to go over them). -A quick aside here, I should note that this review is biased due to my experience with an inept professor. When the class regularly lets out half an hour early, there's no excuse not to take the time to go back over the homework, since the TA's don't. With that in mind, with a decent lecturer, many of the problems with this text could be easily overcome- Why there aren't at least some solutions, or solutions for the quiz problems, is beyond me, as it would really aid understanding to see how one or two actual problems are worked, instead of just showing a graph and calling it an example.

To sum it up, this book is incredibly frustrating.

This is an EXCELLENT book for learning probability and random process.
It is clear, lot of examples, lot of end of chapter problems. You can solve all the problems once you have mastered the concepts in the chapters.

Probability theory is inevitable if you want to learn signal processing, communication , or control theory.
Other famous books like Stark & Woods are more difficult than this one, you need to learn this book (all the theory and problems) thoroughly to learn advanced books like Stark & woods,Steven kay (estimation / detection).

As one review complains the introduction says the subject is difficult. Well its absolutely true, probability is certainly not an easy subject. Its more difficult that other subjects such as DSP, electromagnetics etc.

Why a work of art? because the logical flow of the book and the clear exposition makes this difficult subject accessible even to a 69 year old! I tried to read Leon-Garcia and found it deficient in these areas.

Some minor points. The book ends without discussing Little's Law which would have taken one more line. The derivation of the CK equation could be improved, and there are a few typos.

Conclusion:
You will really enjoy this book and be repaid for your efforts!