The pleasures of probability

Richard Isaac038794415X, 9780387944159

The purpose of “The Pleasures of Probability” is to introduce some of the most fundamental ideas in classical probability to a fairly general audience – reaching from mathematical amateurs to scientists, from students to professional mathematicians. The only prerequisites required are a decent background in elementary algebra and an interest in discussions of a variety of problems and applications in probability. The style is informal, and the chapters are more like essays on a particular topic than textbook treatments. Even well-known problems are often covered in more depth than usual in order to illustrate underlying ideas. The book can be used as a text for a first course in probability or as a companion to a text. Each chapter ends with a few problems, the answers to which are given at the end of the book.