Statistical Data Analysis (Oxford Science Publications) [Paperback]

Glen Cowan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198501552 | ISBN-13: 978-0198501558 | Publication Date: June 4, 1998

This book is a guide to the practical application of statistics to data analysis in the physical sciences. It is primarily addressed at students and professionals who need to draw quantitative conclusions from experimental data. Although most of the examples are taken from particle physics, the material is presented in a sufficiently general way as to be useful to people from most branches of the physical sciences. The first part of the book describes the basic tools of data analysis: concepts of probability and random variables, Monte Carlo techniques, statistical tests, and methods of parameter estimation. The last three chapters then develop more advanced statistical ideas, focusing on interval estimation, characteristic functions, and correcting distributions for the effects of measurement errors (unfolding).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I believe the author did an admirable job in presenting a wealth of material in a limited space." -- W. Jason Owen, Technometrics, August 2000, Vol 42, No 3

Noted in Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, Vol LVIII, June 2000, No. 2

About the Author

Dr Glen D. Cowan, CERN, PPE Division, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland, Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone], Email: [e-mail] Glen Cowan received his Ph.D. in physics in 1988 from the University of California, Berkeley, after completing his thesis work on particle production in high energy electron-positron collisions. From there he moved to Europe, and has held positions at the Max Planck Institute in Munich and the University of Siegen, Germany. For most of this time, he has been based at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. He is a member of the ALEPH experiment at the electron positron collider LEP.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198501552
• ISBN-13: 978-0198501558
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,010,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Physicist's take on statistics, July 14, 2001

By 

johare4 (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Statistical Data Analysis (Oxford Science Publications) (Hardcover)

This book is succint, 187 pages excluding the bibliography. It starts from scratch (no statistical background) introduces the relative frequency and Bayesian (subjective) interpretations of probability. Both viewpoints are given throughout the book, where appropriate. The last chapter is a very useful treatment of deconvolution in the presence of limited resolution of a measuring device, and it makes the connection to image restoration.

Time series analysis is not included.

The author's background is particle physics, and he works at CERN. Many examples come from that arena, but the presentation is definitely more accessible to an engineer, physicist or chemist than the numerous treatments by financial analysts and social scientists.