Probability Via Expectation (Springer Texts in Statistics) - Hardcover

Whittle, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0387977589 ISBN 13: 9780387977584

Publisher: Springer Verlag, 1992

Synopsis

This book is a complete revision of the earlier work Probability which ap­ peared in 1970. While revised so radically and incorporating so much new material as to amount to a new text, it preserves both the aim and the approach of the original. That aim was stated as the provision of a 'first text in probability, de­ manding a reasonable but not extensive knowledge of mathematics, and taking the reader to what one might describe as a good intermediate level'. In doing so it attempted to break away from stereotyped applications, and consider applications of a more novel and significant character. The particular novelty of the approach was that expectation was taken as the prime concept, and the concept of expectation axiomatized rather than that of a probability measure. In the preface to the original text of 1970 (reproduced below, together with that to the Russian edition of 1982) I listed what I saw as the advantages of the approach in as unlaboured a fashion as I could. I also took the view that the text rather than the author should persuade, and left the text to speak for itself. It has, indeed, stimulated a steady interest, to the point that Springer-Verlag has now commissioned this complete reworking.

About this title

Review

From the reviews of the fourth edition:

"... a clear success in its unorthodoxy, Probability via Expectation has become a treasured classic."
P.A.L. Emrechts in "Short Book Reviews", Vol. 21/1, April, 2001

"Apart from presenting a case for the development of probability theory by using the expectation operator rather than probability measure as the primitive notion, a second distinctive feature of this book is the very large range of modern applications that it covers. Many of these are addressed by more than 350 exercises interspersed throughout the text. In summary, this well written book is a ... introduction to probability theory and its applications." (Norbert Henze, Metrika, November, 2002)

"Originally published in 1970, this book has stood the test of time. ... the text demonstrates a modern alternative approach to a now classical field. ... The fourth edition contains a number of modifications and corrections. New material on dynamic programming, optimal allocation, options pricing and large deviations is included." (Martin T. Wells, Journal of the American Statistical Association, September 2001)

From the Back Cover

This classical text, here presented in a third and completely rewritten edition, has been widely used as an introduction to probability. Its main aim is to present a straightforward introduction to the main concepts and applications of probability at an undergraduate level.All the main concepts of a first course in probability are covered including probability measures, independence, conditional probability, the basic limit theorems, and Markov processes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0387977589
• ISBN 13: 9780387977584
• Binding: Hardcover