No comments about Statistics for Business and Economics, 10th Edition (with Student CD-ROM).

3 comments about Modelling Extremal Events: for Insurance and Finance (Stochastic Modelling and Applied Probability).

1. This book covers the theory and applications of extremal value theory (an area of applied probability). The mathematics is kept at an acceptable level, i.e. advanced undergraduates in math/physics/engineering, but the breadth and the sophistication of the statements are such that the results are never trivial. Chapters 2-3-4 introduce the reader to the property of sums, maxima and order statistics of random variables. Many results are only stated but not proved. Yet, this does not detract to the readability of the book. Chpater 5 treats point processes and requires a deeper mathematical background. Among the chapters, this was the most disappointing to me. The monographs of Resnick and of Kallenberg, as well as many good introductions to point processes in queueing theory, are in my opinion both a more intuitive and rigorous introduction to random measures. This is not a major flaw of the book, given its view toward applications; and besides this, the bibliographical notes will point the reader to the relevant literature. Chapter 6, on statistical analysis of extremal events, is enjoyable and extremely useful for practitioners in finance and insurance. Chapter 7 touches upon time series and its relation to heavy tails. Finally, chapter 8 is a put-pourri of topics: ARCH processes, stable processes, self-similarity. Overall, I found this book useful as a reference, but sometimes lacking in focus: some topics seem juxtaposed with no clear logical continuity. Another potential shortcoming of the book is that it is neither completely rigorous nor completely readable (i.e., an undergraduate-level book). At the same time, these can be considered as qualities: with regards to the former, there is plenty of material to consult and draw inspiration from; and at the same time each reader will find the "right" level of mathematics in the book. In my opinion the final balance is largely positive, and I would recommend this book without hesitation.



2. This book presents extreme value theory and its applications with the finance industry as its primary target. There have been many excellent texts written on extreme value theory but none this extensive. As the authors admit even as extensive as it is the theory of multivariate extremes is neglected. They chose to only cover in detail the theory that is mature enough for application.

   What you will find here that is not in many texts on this subject is a treatment of risk theory and fluctuations of sums and various time series models including cases with heavy-tailed marginal distributions.

   Chapter 8 on special topics is particularly interesting with a lot of coverage for the extremal index, large claim index, ARCH processes, large deviations, reinsurance, stable processes and self-similarity. The book contains over 600 references to the literature and is a welcome resource for practitioners in finance and insurance as well as extreme value theorists.




3. book presents extreme value theory and its applications with the finance industry as its primary target. There have been many excellent texts written on extreme value theory but none this extensive. As the authors admit even as extensive as it is the theory of multivariate extremes is neglected. They chose to only cover in detail the theory that is mature enough for application.
   What you will find here that is not in many texts on this subject is a treatment of risk theory and fluctuations of sums and various time series models including cases with heavy-tailed marginal distributions.
   
   Chapter 8 on special topics is particularly interesting with a lot of coverage for the extremal index, large claim index, ARCH processes, large deviations, reinsurance, stable processes and self-similarity. The book contains over 600 references to the literature and is a welcome resource for practitioners in finance and insurance as well as extreme value theorists.

No comments about Business Statistics in Practice w/Student CD.

3 comments about Quantitative Analysis for Management with CD (9th Edition).

1. I read this book as the assigned text for a course in Quantitative Analysis and found it to be an excellent text for such a class. Each Model and equation presented is explained through realistic examples, illustrations, and explanations of the math. This made the subject very easy to comprehend and apply to the real world.
   
   Exercises at the end of each chapter are also based on real-world situations and case studies are included in the book and the CD that go into more detail about a real world use for each model.
   
   The book was also easy to read and not overly technical when explaining mathematic concepts. An excellent text for an introduction to the field of management science.



2. Wow! This brand new book cost $50 less than the same new book at my university bookstore! It was even cheaper than buying a used version of the book from the bookstore. The shipping was so fast, it arrived at my house the day after I ordered it! I'll be looking on Amazon.com for all my future text book purchases!! :)



3. We used this book in my "Operations analysis"-class, and it's a great introduction to the subjects discussed. Some very basic probability for estimating values and descision theory. Some regression in addition to other forecasting methods. Good sections on linear and integer programming, and also basic queuing models. Markov analysis is about as far as this book goes, and it basically just touches upon all the subjects in order to make the reader grasp the basic ideas.
   One minus is the Windows-only software, no Mac-support there, but that only meant that I had to use Excel, which imo helped me gain a better understanding of the subjects, as I had to formulate all the spreadsheets myself instead of just feeding numbers into the QM-package, which imo seems like a total waste of a chance to learn. Anyway, most areas are covered with respect to both QM and Excel, which makes the non-existant Mac-support bareable.

4 comments about Statistics for Management (7th Edition).

1. Great book and also "great" price



2. The text is very easy to understand. The case study is great as well as the exercises.



3. Listen Software Solutions: I found the book to be easy to understand and packed with alot of step by step illustrations. Using the samples and easy to follow instructions such as concepts like Least Square Approximation and Multiple Regression Model techniques, I felt comfortable in solving my trend analysis problems. The authors do not overwhelm the reader with advanced mathematical notation but instead provide an learn by example method to their teaching. After each chapter, a number of homework problems are available, for the the student to try. This is a great college textbook to learn business statistics from. I used the textbox to learn how to program MFC VC++ curve fitting alogrithms for a stock trends analysis algorithm. I must say the internet has a ton of material, however, this book provided me the clearest explanations and helped me gain the greatest understanding of my curve fitting solutions.



4. THIS HAD BEEN A PRESCRIBED TEXT BOOK FOR STATISTICS IN MY MBA. I REALLY LOVED READING THIS BOOK. ENJOYED SOLVING THE PROBLEMS.
   ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR ALL STATISTICS STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS TO OWN.
   
   ARUN

No comments about Solutions Manual for Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics.

4 comments about Efficiency Of Racetrack Betting Markets.

1. After reading and researching statistical techniques applied to horse racing this book is by far the most important and complete book I have read. The techniques are proven using complex math and statistical calculations and if repeated can earn a consistant and reasonable profit.



2. William Ziemba and Donald B. Hausch, eds., Efficiencies of Racetrack Betting Markets: Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics (Academic Press, 1994)

   I believe this is the only review I have ever written for a book I do not own. While I was working at a university in the late nineties, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a copy of this in their library after reading Ziemba and Hausch's landmark Beat the Track. For the year between my finding it and my switching jobs, the book was out of the library and in my hands every day. I renewed as often as I could, and when I couldn't, I would drop it off on my way to work and take it out again on my way home. They were inclined to be lenient, because I was the only person who had ever taken the book out of the library.

   Let me get one thing straight from the outset: folks, this is not your momma's handicapping manual. For that matter, it's not your shady Uncle George's handicapping manual, either. It's a graduate-level econ textbook. And if you have no background in math (as I didn't at the time, and I still have only what I've gleaned thanks to Howard Sartin and Tom Brohamer), your first trip through this large and ponderous tome will be torturous. You might want to bone up on your equations, not to mention keeping a small handbook of "what Greek letters mean to economists" by your side at all times.

   Eventually, however, you will dig your way down to the meaning of the first paper. And then the second. And then the third. And so on. And for the horseplayer with an academic bent (definition, gleaned from some nasty comments during a discussion on the book that irked some folks who didn't like what they were hearing: any bettor who read Rosecrance's The Degenerates of Lake Tahoe and was able to laugh when finding a description of someone a lot like him), figuring out what these people are on about is the rough equivalent of discovering the tombs of Tutankhamen, Rameses, and Nefertiti all at the same time, and finding incontrovertible proof that Anubis really DID carry their souls off to the realm of the dead in the process. It's true that any bright middle-school student who has a good grasp of fractions will be able to get Beat the Track, and praise the powers that be that Ziemba and Hausch are capable of translating this morass into something most people can understand, even if they only touched on a portion of one of Ziemba's papers (which is the first one presented here). If the middle-school student is really, REALLY bright, is what the classifieds today call a self-starter (read: willing to try and figure this stuff out on his own), and has access to a tutor and/or writings that can explain some of the more esoteric facts, and has six months or so free to decipher this stuff full-time, said bright middle-schooler can probably find the keys to the kingdom. And get a pretty solid understanding of econ jargon in the process (which could lead to blowing the curve in Freshman-level econ classes in a few years).

   I've been considering going back to school and learning to be an accountant. Before I do so, I have every intention of acquiring a copy of this hefty tome, which will likely set me back a year's tuition or more, and using it so I, too, can blow the curve. Of course, if it helps me make enough money to pay for school in the process, that would be quite a bonus, but the real value here is in showing, once and for all, that depending on your point of view, either horse race investing is no more a gamble than playing the stock market, or that playing the stock market is just as much a gamble as putting your two bucks on the nose of Glue Factory Refugee in the seventh at Charles Town on Friday night. *****




3. This is a very difficult to locate title and you are likely to pay a significant price premium. I found my copy at Amazon.co.uk and it was a reverse bound photocopy of the manuscript, still carrying a premium price!
   
   The book contains approximately 60 academic papers divided into seven categories. As academic papers, each of the paper goes into significant depth regarding narrow topics. The organization of the book attempts to bridge between the topics. Some of the papers are "classics" written as early as the 1940's. Papers include the classics by Harville, Hausch, Asch and Benter. The authors of the papers include mathematicians, psychologists and gamblers. Some value in the book is derived through identification of these authors to search for their other works. The bibliography and acknowledgements are uniquely useful.
   
   Frankly, after reading the majority of the papers, I am not sure I understand the exhorbitant pricing for the book. I do not see any conclusions or recommendations that aren't contained in a range of handicapping books, and the individual papers are readily available to anyone willing to invest the time to research at a major technical library. The book is a good one, but not as great as the price would lead you to believe.



4. this book, as indicated by its title, its genre, its time period, and its authors, embraces theoretical foundations long since discredited even among the academics: viz., that perfect information can be obtained (the true meaning of Kelly); that complete rationality is not only expectable within any game-theoretic space, but also, once realized, can adapt perfectly to such stochastic and discontinuous processes as appear; and that randomness, not persistence, is the foundation of every speculative game.
   
   nearly every mathematical model of an event results in tautologies, in that the model rests upon assumptions not contained within the condition it abstracts. proof of the adequacy of the model, therefore, rests less upon its predictive power--although, perhaps, accurate when applied to a subset of the universe about which it discourses--than its meta-logical, meta-factual persuasions. logical systems are axiomatic, that is, deductive; where-as real systems are conditional and probabilistic, and give rise to frequent contradiction. efficiency market theory suffers from these persuasions, from these tautologies, and insinuates its bias in the conclusions it draws.
   
   efficiency exists only so long as an equilibrium exists in the underlying dynamic: once an efficiency is embraced by the players in a game as a "law", the preponderance of opinion must necessarily neglect the exceptions to its beliefs, and thus, bring about that inefficiency which it arose to defray: the exception is undervalued, and this elevates its worth.

5 comments about Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos.

1. This is not a book for people looking for the technical detail of data analysis or statistical process control. The pearl in this book is the message that interpreting your data (such as KPIs or performance measures) is about looking at patterns, not at individual points. It's a book that can be read by people not interested in the technical stuff (such as managers or executives) - and it *should* be read by these people. We have to move beyond the days of comparing this month to last month to judge business performance, and this book is a great step in the right direction!



2. I learned statistics back in the university then never applied concepts and after some 10 years I was challenged to undertake basic statistics matters in the way of learning Six Sigma. This book is very focused on the variation and the graphical interpretation of data. Yuo may read this book over a weekend then attack Six Sima stats without pain.



3. While I agree with a couple of other reviews that this book is high-level and superficial, this is an excellent resource to start discussions about variation. In an organization where we are new to process improvement or even considering the impact or sources of variation, this book is essential. It is a quick read and great for management.



4. This is not for the Acacdemic, It doesn't explain the satistical mathematics behind the techniques, but it is a good solid recipe book with solid advice on understanding the nature of variation and application of process control. Get's right to the heart of the practice.
   Good job.



5. I can't believe I was only introduced to this in a graduate level class, under the humble (and quite vague) disguise of "modern enterprise systems". That said, this book has tremendous applications beyond IE courses. Astonishing and empowering...and I hope it really catches on for those who can handle a transformation free of charge courtesy of Wheeler....I guess IE's have a strong advantage with this one, so it'll be our little secret in the meantime...

5 comments about Data Analysis with Microsoft Excel: Updated for Office XP (with CD-ROM).

1. I use this book as the main text book for the first half of a class in statistics and research methods for students from a wide variety of social science and humanities backgrounds, with little formal statistics or mathematics background.

   I surveyed my students with 5 questions about the book, with responses on a Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 3=neutral, 5=strongly aggree. 17 students responded, which is a small enough sample size to caution applicability of results. The mean value of each response appears after the questions I asked.

   1.The book was, overall, helpful in explaining statistical concepts. (Mean=2.73). Students would have appreciated more explanation and examples.
   2.The book helped me to analyze data. (Mean=2.3)
   3.The StatPlus AddIn was, overall, helpful in analyzing data. (Mean=3.76)
   4.The StatPlus AddIn worked well on my computer. (Mean=3.7)
   5.Overall, I would recommend this book to next year's class. (Mean=3.05)

   Thus, overall, weighting each question equally, my students gave the book 3.12 stars.

   As a professor, I give the book 4 stars. The organization of the book chapters fit well in an overview course, with one chapter assinged per week. The StatPlus AddIn is worth the cost of the book itself, as it expands the statistical capabilities of Excel without students needing to purchase additional software. There are a wide range of problems and example data sets which come with the book, applicable to a wide range of disciplines. A significant number of students had computer difficulties installing and running the StatPlus AddIn, so I would recommend to the company a support web page with FAQs, at the least.

   Students with little preparation in mathematics or statiscs who need a good step-by-step guide to data analysis will find this book helpful, especially if they do the excercises at the end of the chapters. (The publishers should make the answers available to everyone, not just us instructors -- for those working on their own who want to check their work). However, students with some preparation in statistics or mathematics may be better served with a more advanced text.




2. I have to say this book really does an okay job providing ways to use Excel for data analysis. But if you have ANY problems with their Add-Ins not working, the support people will just tell you it's an Excel problem...duh! Buy this book if you trust their Add-Ins will work on your computer. But if you encounter problems that you can't solve via the Microsoft help function, don't expect any help from the support that's promised in the back of the book. They'll just tell you to have your instructor figure it out.



3. Each of us on our data analysis team were given this book and have used the StatPlus add-ins to create control charts for various processes that we report on, with great success. The add-ins will work in Office Excel 2003 as well. Our company has seen substantially increased productivity and success as a result of the analyses that we are able to do with this book.



4. I had this book for an undergraduate web-based distance learning course.
   
   It provided good explanations, both of the excel function, and what was going on mathematically.
   
   Very easy to find information.
   
   StatPlus is a good addin. The interactive elements on distributions was also very helpful.
   
   Very thorough text for both beginning and intermediate level users of Excel.



5. I have just recieved this Book, and have yet to delve into the text, but a brief review of the functionality provided on the the CD proves the purchase is worth it. Box Plots, Stem and leaf diagrams, Dtat point labeling and Scatterplot matrix alone is worth the price of the book

5 comments about Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics with Student CD-Rom Mandatory Package.

1. This was an ok buy...first of all it was already quite used and therefore not really worth much.....it was the correct item I ordered and it came in a timely fashion. Overall about 3.5 stars.



2. The book I received did not have the cd the book was in used condition not good as stated. It was ok. It would have been nice to have the cd. It needs to be a little more detailed.



3. The 12th edition of this book contains a surprising number of errors. I am currently using this book for a statistics course in an MBA program. We are twelve chapters into the book now and in most every chapter I have found a mistake; more often than not there are multiple mistakes. What is worse is that the majority of the mistakes are in the practice problems which are where the student learns to apply the skills. This serves to create confusion and frustration on the student's part. Some of the mistakes are sloppy editing while others more significant are providing wrong information. The editors need to take another look at this book and the authors should also take note.



4. I used this text in my MBA stats class and have found it to be very informative and useful. I found the examples for Excel and Minitab to be well written and of great use. I would recommend this book for anyone who uses statistics on a frequent basis or simply would like a good reference manual in their library.



5. I have been using a few editions of this book in the last few years and I am going to use it again soon but the 12th edition had too many mistakes. Later I saw the corrections for the mistakes on the book's site but even the corrections had a few mistakes.