Statistical Distributions, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Merran Evans (Author), Nicholas Hastings (Author), Brian Peacock (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471559512 | ISBN-13: 978-0471559511 | Publication Date: July 15, 1993 | Edition: 2

Updated to include 39 of the major probability distributions. Presents key formulas, tables and diagrams for each distribution in a clear, concise format. Provides additional material on variate relationships, estimation and computing. Contains bibliography and Table of Computing References. Employs a consistent nomenclature system.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Overall, an excellent book for readers interested in qualitative data analysis. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." (Choice, 1 October 2011)

"This new edition continues to illustrate the application of statistical methods to research across various disciplines, including medicine, engineering, business/finance, and the social sciences. Thoroughly revised and updated, the authors have refreshed this book to reflect the changes and current trends in statistical distribution theory that have occured since the publication of the previous edition eight years ago . . . key facts and formulas for forty major probability distributions are presented, making the book an ideal introduction to the general theory of statistical distributions as well as a quick reference on its basic principles". (MyCFO, 22 December 2010)

"This new edition continues to illustrate the application of statistical methods to research across various disciplines, including medicine, engineering, business/finance, and the social sciences. Thoroughly revised and updated, the authors have refreshed this book to reflect the changes and current trends in statistical distribution theory that have occured since the publication of the previous edition eight years ago. The introductory chapters introduce the fundamental concepts of the distributions and the relationships between variables. For each distribution that follows, the key formulae, tables and diagrams are presented in a concise, user-friendly format. Key facts and formulas for forty major probability distributions are presented, making the book an ideal introduction to the general theory of statistical distributions as well as a quick reference on its basic principles". (MyCFO, 22 December 2010)

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Updated to include 39 of the major probability distributions. Presents key formulas, tables and diagrams for each distribution in a clear, concise format. Provides additional material on variate relationships, estimation and computing. Contains bibliography and Table of Computing References. Employs a consistent nomenclature system.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Interscience; 2 edition (July 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471559512
• ISBN-13: 978-0471559511
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,230,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful, February 7, 2004

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Statistical Distributions (Paperback)

No book can possibly cover all distributions - new ones seem to show up in every new problem that arises. This book covers the common ones, maybe all the distributions a student sees in the first stats course or two.

The coverage is quite good for routine, and some non-routine purposes. I find the characteristic functions especially helpful. Each distribution's description of how it arises is also very useful - it's the kind of information that a practitioner needs in order to apply distributions to problems in meaningful ways.

I know that no book can say everything, but a few additions would have improved this book significantly. More discussion of applications would have helped. So would a discussion of general techniques for generating random numbers - inverse distributions, rejection, etc.

The two real weaknesses I found were in the extreme value and the empirical distributions. Extreme values don't stand alone. They often arise in ways dependent on other distributions. An extreme value distribution might describe the results of many experiments that find the largest of N values drawn from distribution P - with different results according to P. These distributions don't have convenient closed forms, but are amenable to some kinds of analysis anyway.

Perhaps the authors do a reasonable job of empirical distributions in the continuous case, but discrete (categorical) cases arise more in my work. Discrete distributions must answer such questions as: given that my sampling may not have found objects of all possible types, how many unknown types are probably still out there? Lots of problems have distributions too complicated for analysis or too poorly understood for book formulas to work, and must be handled empirically. More discussion of empirical techniques would make this a much stronger reference.

Despite its soft spots, this is a very practical reference. I expect it to be a productive member of my technical library.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great resource for Statisticians and Quantitative analysts., June 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Statistical Distributions, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I have been browsing in bookstores for months looking for something just like this. It has very detailed descriptions and explanations of important elements, such as mean, variance, moment-generating functions, etc. I was a bit dismayed by the price, but more than happy with the information it provided.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to fit distributions ? This is the book !, February 26, 2001

By 

Steve Uhlig (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Statistical Distributions (Paperback)

This is a very good reference for univariate statistical distributions. It provides maximum likelihood and moment estimation formulas for many distributions i'ven't seen anywhere else. That's right that the price is quite high for the number of pages but this information is invaluable for practitioners who need to fit distributions to real data.