Chance Rules: An Informal Guide to Probability, Risk, and Statistics - Softcover

Everitt, Brian S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0387987681 ISBN 13: 9780387987682

Publisher: Springer, 1999

Synopsis

Chance affects all our lives. From the genes we inherit to the environment into which we are born, life is a gamble. It is chance that decrees who becomes an overnight millionaire from winning a lottery and who ends up the victim of a fatal air crash. And in nature electrons and the like obey only the laws of probability rather than those of Newton. In Chance Rules aspects of chance, risk and probability, from simple games involving the toss of a coin, to the use of clinical trials in medicine and the evaluation of alternative therapies, are explored in an informal and hopefully entertaining manner. The book is aimed at all those who would like to discover more about change and the way it operates in a variety of settings. Professor Brian S. Everitt is the Head of the Biostatistics and Computing Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London. He is the author of about 70 journal papers and 30 books on statistics.

About this title

About the Author

Brian S. Everitt is the Head of the Biostatistics and Computing Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London. He is the author of 30 books on statistics.

From the Back Cover

Chance continues to govern our lives in the 21^st Century. From the genes we inherit and the environment into which we are born, to the lottery ticket we buy at the local store, much of life is a gamble. In business, education, travel, health, and marriage, we take chances in the hope of obtaining something better. Chance colors our lives with uncertainty, and so it is important to examine it and try to understand about how it operates in a number of different circumstances. Such understanding becomes simpler if we take some time to learn a little about probability because probability is the natural language of uncertainty.

This second edition of Chance Rules again recounts the story of chance through history and the various ways it impacts on our lives. Here you can read about the earliest gamblers who thought that the fall of the dice was controlled by the gods, as well as the modern geneticist and quantum theory researcher trying to integrate aspects of probability into their chosen speciality. Example included in the first addition such as the infamous Monty Hall problem, tossing coins, coincidences, horse racing, birthdays and babies remain, often with an expanded discussion, in this edition. Additional material in the second edition includes, a probabilistic explanation of why things were better when you were younger, consideration of whether you can use probability to prove the existence of God, how long you may have to wait to win the lottery, some court room dramas, predicting the future, and how evolution scores over creationism. Chance Rules lets you learn about probability without complex mathematics.

Brian Everitt is Professor Emeritus at King's College, London. He is the author of more than 50 books on statistics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0387987681
• ISBN 13: 9780387987682
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 220