Ron E. Larson

I see this textbook has gotten some bad reviews, but I find it a very good, pre-calculus algebraic stats text. It goes from basic probability and regression (which I feel should be among the first chapters) on up to chi distribution. My main complaints are these:

1. Choose one technology! This is spread thin over Excel, TI-84 graphing calculator and MiniTab

2. coefficient of determination is not mentioned here while being more prevalent that Pearson's correlation coefficient -- even among the show more chosen technologies.

3. So much today revolves around the p-value, the level of marginal significance within a statistical hypothesis test, It fades from this text after initial introduction and its contemporary reassessment is not explored.

4. The author calls a telephone survey as an unbiased sampling, which is hardly ever true! show less

It's funny: My wife uses this book more than I do. Of course, she uses it as a heavy object for keeping papers flat...

This book is a general overview of Calculus (you know, that class you dreaded taking in college, and probably forgot everything you ever learned from it, anyway, as you never encountered enough real-world problems to leverage what you learned there; I mean, seriously! How many salt tanks have you had to calculate equilibrium for? Realistically?).

If you have one of the few show more jobs in the world that actually require Calculus skills (i.e.: calculus professor, rocket scientist, new age priest, and camel jockey), then you'll probably enjoy a book like this to keep your calculus skills sharp. Also, if you're one of those weird people (like me) who likes to read whatever he can get his hands on, even if it's a shipping registry or bottle of toothpaste, then this book may also be good for you.

Otherwise, you'll probably get lost among all those transcendental functions. show less

In my opinion, the best Calculus text of the last few decades. Extremely intuitive and clear-cut, with excellent, logical examples. Excellent for either education or reference. I have the multi-variate edition, covering everything from basic definitions through vector algebra, and wished my successive textbooks were this helpful.

This is a solid and fairly clear introduction to the use of statistical methods. The clarity of it depends on how much you enjoy mathematics, but there really isn't much in the way of advanced math to be found. Some of the formulae look complex, but are simple 'plug and chug' tabular methods that a decent graphing calculator does internally without bothering you, the user. I should also note that the formulae are more or less just pulled out of a hat, I have an older textbook that delves show more deep into the mechanics of how the formulae are derived and that is where the more advanced math of Statistics truly is. Still a very clear basic college textbook. show less