Prob/Stats A First Course in Probability by Ross

AI Thread Summary
Sheldon Ross's "A First Course in Probability" is recognized for its solid theoretical foundation and practical examples, making it a valuable resource for understanding probability, particularly in engineering contexts. The book has been used in academic settings, providing a working knowledge of the subject. While newer editions exist, including a 9th edition that is only slightly longer than the 3rd, concerns about the high price of the latest edition, at $145, have been raised, suggesting that it may not offer sufficient value compared to earlier versions. Overall, while there may be better options available, Ross's book remains a reasonable choice for those seeking to enhance their probability skills.

For those who have used this book


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I know the 3rd edition - it was the book my sophomore "probability for engineers" course was based on. At the time I thought it was a good book, with plenty of theory and lots of examples so the reader could pick and chose which ones were helpful. I'm sure we skipped the more difficult proofs, and I'm sure we didn't do the hardest problems in the book, but I know that I gained a working knowledge of probability. Years later I used this book as the first part of my "probability review" I undertook on my own once I was in the workforce and needed better fluency with the material, and I thought Ross was great as far as basic probability is concerned.

Are there better books around? Probably. But Ross is reasonable. Now there is a 9th edition out, which (surprisingly) only about 15% longer, so hasn't suffered the extreme bloating many books have. The price of the new edition is outrageous, though. The book is not worth $145 in my opinion, no matter how much better it is than he 3rd edition.

jason
 
The book is fascinating. If your education includes a typical math degree curriculum, with Lebesgue integration, functional analysis, etc, it teaches QFT with only a passing acquaintance of ordinary QM you would get at HS. However, I would read Lenny Susskind's book on QM first. Purchased a copy straight away, but it will not arrive until the end of December; however, Scribd has a PDF I am now studying. The first part introduces distribution theory (and other related concepts), which...
I've gone through the Standard turbulence textbooks such as Pope's Turbulent Flows and Wilcox' Turbulent modelling for CFD which mostly Covers RANS and the closure models. I want to jump more into DNS but most of the work i've been able to come across is too "practical" and not much explanation of the theory behind it. I wonder if there is a book that takes a theoretical approach to Turbulence starting from the full Navier Stokes Equations and developing from there, instead of jumping from...

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