What Are the Chances?

Voodoo Deaths, Office Gossip, and Other Adventures in Probability

Bart K. Holland (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

160 Seiten

2002
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-6941-9 (ISBN)

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Our lives are governed by chance. But what, exactly, is chance? In this book, accomplished statistician and storyteller Bart K. Holland takes us on a tour of the world of probability. Weaving together tales from real life-from the spread of the bubonic plague in medieval Europe or the number of Prussian cavalrymen kicked to death by their horses, through IQ test results and deaths by voodoo curse, to why you have to wait in line for rides at Disneyworld-Holland captures the reader's imagination with surprising examples of probability in action, everyday events that can profoundly affect our lives but are controlled by just one number. As Holland explains, even chance events are governed by the laws of probability and follow regular patterns called statistical laws. He shows how such laws are successfully applied, with great benefit, in fields as diverse as the insurance industry, the legal system, medical research, aerospace engineering, and climatology. Whether you have only a distant recollection of high school algebra or use differential equations every day, this book offers examples of the impact of chance that will amuse and astonish.

Bart K. Holland is an associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at New Jersey Medical School.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Roulette Wheels and the Plague
Chapter 2. Surely Something's Wrong With You
Chapter 3. The Life Table: You Can Bet On It!
Chapter 4. The Rarest Events
Chapter 5. The Waiting Game
Chapter 6. Stockbrokers and Climate Change
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	29.7.2002
Zusatzinfo	7 Line drawings, black and white
Verlagsort	Baltimore, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	140 x 216 mm
Gewicht	363 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
	Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Mathematische Spiele und Unterhaltung
ISBN-10	0-8018-6941-2 / 0801869412
ISBN-13	978-0-8018-6941-9 / 9780801869419
Zustand	Neuware