A First Course in Probability 9th Edition by Sheldon Ross, ISBN-13: 978-0321794772

A First Course in Probability 9th Edition by Sheldon Ross, ISBN-13: 978-0321794772

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• Publisher: ‎ Pearson; 9th edition (December 21, 2012)
• Language: ‎ English
• ‎480 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 032179477X
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0321794772

This book is intended as an elementary introduction to the theory of probability for students in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the sciences (including computer science, biology, the social sciences, and management science) who possess the prerequisite knowledge of elementary calculus. It attempts to present not only the mathematics of probability theory, but also, through numerous examples, the many diverse possible applications of this subject.

Content and Course Planning

Chapter 1 presents the basic principles of combinatorial analysis, which are most useful in computing probabilities.

Chapter 2 handles the axioms of probability theory and shows how they can be applied to compute various probabilities of interest.

Chapter 3 deals with the extremely important subjects of conditional probability and independence of events. By a series of examples, we illustrate how conditional probabilities come into play not only when some partial information is available, but also as a tool to enable us to compute probabilities more easily, even when no partial information is present. This extremely important technique of obtaining probabilities by “conditioning” reappears in Chapter 7, where we use it to obtain expectations.

The concept of random variables is introduced in Chapters 4, 5, and 6. Discrete random variables are dealt with in Chapter 4, continuous random variables in Chapter 5, and jointly distributed random variables in Chapter 6. The important concepts of the expected value and the variance of a random variable are introduced in Chapters 4 and 5, and these quantities are then determined for many of the common types of random variables.

Additional properties of the expected value are considered in Chapter 7. Many examples illustrating the usefulness of the result that the expected value of a sum of random variables is equal to the sum of their expected values are presented. Sections on conditional expectation, including its use in prediction, and on momentgenerating functions are contained in this chapter. In addition, the final section introduces the multivariate normal distribution and presents a simple proof concerning the joint distribution of the sample mean and sample variance of a sample from a normal distribution.

Chapter 8 presents the major theoretical results of probability theory. In particular, we prove the strong law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Our proof of the strong law is a relatively simple one that assumes that the random variables have a finite fourth moment, and our proof of the central limit theorem assumes Levy’s continuity theorem. This chapter also presents such probability inequalities as Markov’s inequality, Chebyshev’s inequality, and Chernoff bounds. The final section of Chapter 8 gives a bound on the error involved when a probability concerning a sum of independent Bernoulli random variables is approximated by the corresponding probability of a Poisson random variable having the same expected value.

Chapter 9 presents some additional topics, such as Markov chains, the Poisson process, and an introduction to information and coding theory, and Chapter 10 considers simulation.

As in the previous edition, three sets of exercises are given at the end of each chapter. They are designated as Problems, Theoretical Exercises, and Self-Test Problems and Exercises. This last set of exercises, for which complete solutions appear in Solutions to Self-Test Problems and Exercises, is designed to help students test their comprehension and study for exams.

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