A First Course in Probability, Eighth Edition, features clear and intuitive explanations of the mathematics of probability theory, outstanding problem sets, and a variety of diverse examples and applications. This book is ideal for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate level introduction to probability for math, science, engineering and business students. It assumes a background in elementary calculus.
“We see that the theory of probability is at bottom only common sense reduced
to calculation; it makes us appreciate with exactitude what reasonable minds feel
by a sort of instinct, often without being able to account for it. . . . It is remarkable
that this science, which originated in the consideration of games of chance, should
have become the most important object of human knowledge. . . . The most important
questions of life are, for the most part, really only problems of probability.” So said
the famous French mathematician and astronomer (the “Newton of France”) Pierre-
Simon, Marquis de Laplace. Although many people feel that the famous marquis,
who was also one of the great contributors to the development of probability, might
have exaggerated somewhat, it is nevertheless true that probability theory has become
a tool of fundamental importance to nearly all scientists, engineers, medical practitioners,
jurists, and industrialists. In fact, the enlightened individual had learned to
ask not “Is it so?” but rather “What is the probability that it is so?”
This book is intended as an elementary introduction to the theory of probability
for students in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the sciences (including computer
science, biology, the social sciences, and management science) who possess the
prerequisite knowledge of elementary calculus. It attempts to present not only the
mathematics of probability theory, but also, through numerous examples, the many
diverse possible applications of this subject.
