Probability and Statistics: Dual Book Review

Probability and statistics are the foundation to research in both academia and industry. Risk management uses statistical models to interpret relationships and measure risk within banks and financial institutions. This book review looks at two books and compares them for an introduction to both statistics and probability. Neither book is outstanding but each have their own strengths. If you are looking for a more math based book I would get, Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences. If you are looking for a more general approach and don't have a strong math background I would get Probability and Statistical Inference. I rate both of these books 3/5 stars.

If you are looking for a great statistics book I would look for another book besides these two.

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[Mahmood]

I'm about to purchase a physical copy of Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists by Walpole and Myers 9th edition. I managed to acquire a pdf copy with the solutions manual and find that, so far, this is a very thorough and well-balanced book in terms of balancing theory, examples, exposition and mathematical rigor. The material is well curated for people coming from many different backgrounds.

[eattofuholmes]

Both these books are required by different classes at ASU for a BS in statistics. I’m going back to school for the program because Im an engineering dropout that got mixed up in the music industry for years. I ordered both and am starting with the text from Devore first. My only experience with learning statistics is from the CFA curriculum which is so terribly formatted that it is hard to digest. I’m over the moon that Devore’s is formatted more like an engineering textbook personally.

[Apuryo]

I learned from two books, First Course by Ross and Statistical Inference by Casella. I feel like Casella was definitely intuitive. My university had us use RV Hogg and Tanis, but Casella was a lot better. I feel like without completing Introductory Analysis, it is very difficult to learn this subject adequately. If one has completed discrete math and calc 3, then First Course in Probability Theory by Sheldon Ross is a great option. Then, after one completes introductory analysis (my recommendation is Advanced Calculus by Creighton Buck) Casella's Statistical Inference would be a good option.

[WolfAngelRock]

Based on this video, I bought a used 8th Ed copy of Devore and it's exactly what I'm looking for - a fairly comprehensive reference on probability and statistics for someone who has already studied both. Thanks, Dimitri.

I first took a probability class back in the 1994 and we had Hoel, Port, & Stone's Introduction to Probability Theory inflicted on us. I did well because the teacher was excellent, but I wouldn't recommend it as a first book on probability unless you like very concise math texts. I found it to be a difficult read, and it lacks motivation. However, it does have a lot of answers in the back for the end of chapter problems.

The two books I had for statistics classes were Probability and Statistics for Engineers by Scheaffer & McClave, 4th ed, and Statistics and Data Analysis by Tamhane and Dunlop. Both books were just okay. The Sheaffer and McClave book was boring because most of the examples were either QC or pharmaceutical, which kind of made me hate statistics. Tamhane and Dunlop is a more advanced book, and uses too much of a teach-by-example pedagogy and has flimsy binding.

Here is a suggestion for a book review - Advances in Financial Machine Learning, by Marcos Lopez de Prado. I think it's fascinating, but I don't work in finance, so an insider's perspective would be great.

[Mahmood]

Have you had a chance to examine Sheldon Ross' " Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists"?

If so, what are your thoughts on it?

[rashawnhoward]

The book I used for my graduate regression course: "A Second Course in Statistics Regression Analysis 7th" edition by William Mendenhall, I still use it to this day! 5/5 stars, it's a big book it has over 700 pages.

Chapter 1: Review of Basic Concepts
Chapter 2: Introduction to Regression Analysis
Chapter 3 & 4: Goes in Depth over Regression Analysis
Chapter 5: Principles of Model Building
Chapter 6: Variable Screening Methods
Chapter 7: Some Regression Pitfalls
Chapter 8: Residual Analysis
Chapter 9: Special Topics in Regression (weighted least squares, piece wise regression, logistic regression, robust regression, etc, a little on splines)
Chapter 10: Intro To Time Series 
Chapter 11: Principles of Experimental Design
Chapter 12: Analysis of Variance for Designed Experiments

The appendix goes over linear algebra and how to derive OLS and how to get confidence intervals using linear algebra stuff like that

[akulbansal]

I'm early in quant career. All your videos are super helpful. Thanks a lot!

[andresrossi]

I like those videos about book reviews. I'd really need to recommend a stats book, it is just named "statistics" and it is written by Domenico Piccolo. I have it and I would rate it 5/5. It is a 960 pages book divided in four parts containing all descriptive stats, all inferencial stats, almost everything about probability and a lot about statistical models. It only missed cluster analysis and some little things about multivariate stats. It obviously doesn't have stochastic process too, but it is really broad and complete, it can be readen even by people who doesn't have a strong background, and it gives alone an incredible amount of statistical knowledge. I can say it is the perfect strong background for every kind of advanced study like for example mathematical finance. I'm not sure it is printed in English too, but I strongly recommend to check it out.
I'd like so much a book review about hull’s options futures and other derivatives and sherve's too, and a comparison between them🤓
Thank you again Dimitri!

[skydotel]

Do you think it's possible to make it as a data scientist/data engineer without a masters? I was in Johns Hopkins Applied Math masters but dropped it because of very high costs. I have an undergrad in Econ, and am just self teaching everything I need to know (mostly the programming). My math and stats is very solid.

[XxVidMakerxX]

Hi Dmitri, great video! I personally used the Hogg book in undergrad stats classes. My MFE program actually recommended going over this for preparing as well, so you think this is a good idea?

Also, I know you said to look for a job ASAP when starting MFE in your other video. I’m entering MFE this fall and plan on looking. What would be desireable tasks, activities, or responsibilities for a entry level position to look and apply for? I’ve had data science/programming internships before but nothing finance related.

[gargapurv]

I am an economics undergrad. I am terrible at statistics and probability. I want to learn it from the beginning. Can you recommend a book which can help me create a foundation for the books you mentioned in the video?

[Manthila]

IMO there is no good undergraduate book for Mathematical Statistics, just pick the most readable one you can find for your first attempt. Almost every undergrad book will ask you to take a lot of things simply as fact or at face value because understanding mathematical statistics requires a rigorous understanding of probability which requires some basic knowledge of measure theory. I think I had a dozen pdf's of books I'd look through when learned Mathematical Statistics the first time and I didn't understand why they all felt unsatisfying until I took graduate probability/statistics courses.

My favorite book for a second look through of Mathematical Statistics is "Introduction to Probability and Statistics by Rohatgi and Saleh". It only requires some basic measure theory that you can teach yourself over a weekend (if you know what borel measurable functions are why we need them then that is more than enough) so nothing is hand-waved and topics were explained in great detail. I really loved the section on Hypothesis Testing.

[jewelahamed]

Hello
Teacher please can you answer me this questio🤷🏻‍♂️

1. (score:20) Please give the definition of Probability of event A from the point of statistics and the point of Axiomatic
2.(score:15)IfP(A)=1/5, P(B)=1/4, and p(AB)=3/20, please calculate P(BA) and P(A U B)
3. (score:15)Please give the definition for continuous random variable
and give the explanation of the geometric meaning between distribution function and probability density function.
4. (score:15)Dating Problem : Romeo and Juliet have a date at and each
of them will arrive between time 12 o" clock and 13 o” clock, with all pairs of arrival being equally likely. The first to arrive will wait for 30 minutes and will leave if the other has not yet arrived. What is the probability that they will dating successfully?
5. (score:15)IFA and B are independent, please prove B and A are independent.
6. (score:15)IF Xis a discrete random variable with Probability mass
function as P(X=2)=0.4, P(X=1)=0.1，P(X=-1)=0.3, P(X=-3)=0.2, And denote the distribution of X as F(x), please calculate F(2.5), F(3.5) and E(X)，Var(2X)
7 (score:20) suppose that X obey Normal distribution with parameter u= 60, o =20, please calculate P(X>80)
(Note: 中(1)=0.8413, where 中(x)is the standary normal distribution function take value at x)