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Probability & Statistics


Freakonomics Rev Ed: (and Other Riddles of Modern Life) (P.S.)

Freakonomics Rev Ed: (and Other Riddles of Modern Life) (P.S.) List price: $13.99
Author: Steven D. Levitt

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

Bonus material added to the revised and expanded 2006 edition

  • The original New York Times Magazine article about Steven D. Levitt by Stephen J. Dubner, which led to the creation of this book.

  • Seven “Freakonomics” columns written for the New York Times Magazine, published between August 2005 and April 2006.

  • Selected entries from the Freakonomics blog, posted between April 2005 and May 2006 at http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/.

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

Bonus material added to the revised and expanded 2006 edition

  • The original New York Times Magazine article about Steven D. Levitt by Stephen J. Dubner, which led to the creation of this book.

  • Seven “Freakonomics” columns written for the New York Times Magazine, published between August 2005 and April 2006.

  • Selected entries from the Freakonomics blog, posted between April 2005 and May 2006 at http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/.

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CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Basic (A Full Course)

CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Basic (A Full Course) Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12's Probability and Statistics - Basic (A Full Course) is an introduction to theoretical probability and data organization. Students learn about events, conditions, random variables, and graphs and tables that allow them to manage data.

CK-12's Probability and Statistics - Basic (A Full Course) is an introduction to theoretical probability and data organization. Students learn about events, conditions, random variables, and graphs and tables that allow them to manage data.

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The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves

The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves List price: $26.99
Lowest new price: $17.63
Author: Dan Ariely

The New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality returns with thought-provoking work to challenge our preconceptions about dishonesty and urge us to take an honest look at ourselves.

  • Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat?
  • How do companies pave the way for dishonesty?
  • Does collaboration make us more honest or less so?
  • Does religion improve our honesty?

Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely turns his unique insight and innovative research to the question of dishonesty.

Generally, we assume that cheating, like most other decisions, is based on a rational cost-benefit analysis. But Ariely argues, and then demonstrates, that it's actually the irrational forces that we don't take into account that often determine whether we behave ethically or not. For every Enron or political bribe, there are countless puffed rÉsumÉs, hidden commissions, and knockoff purses. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards.

But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives. With compelling personal and academic findings, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty will change the way we see ourselves, our actions, and others.

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CK-12 Advanced Probability and Statistics

CK-12 Advanced Probability and Statistics List price: $0.00
Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12 Foundation�s Probability and Statistics (Advanced Placement) FlexBook introduces students to basic topics in statistics and probability but finishes with the rigorous topics an advanced placement course requires.

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CK-12 Basic Geometry, Volume 1 Of 2

CK-12 Basic Geometry, Volume 1 Of 2 Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12's Basic Geometry FlexBook, Volumes 1 through 2, is designed to present students with geometric principles in a more graphics-oriented course. Volume 1 includes 6 chapters: Basics of Geometry, Reasoning and Proof, Parallel and Perpendicular Lines, Triangles and Congruence, Relationships with Triangles, and Polygons and Quadrilaterals.

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CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Advanced (Second Edition), Volume 2 Of 2

CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Advanced (Second Edition), Volume 2 Of 2 Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12’s Advanced Probability and Statistics-Second Edition is a clear presentation of the basic topics in statistics and probability, but finishes with the rigorous topics an advanced placement course requires. Volume 2 includes the last 7 chapters and covers the following topics: Sampling Distributions and Estimations, Hypothesis Testing, Regression and Correlation, Chi-Square, Analysis of Variance and F-Distribution, and Non-Parametric Statistics. It also includes a collection of resources in the final chapter.

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CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Advanced (Second Edition), Volume 1 Of 2

CK-12 Probability and Statistics - Advanced (Second Edition), Volume 1 Of 2 Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12’s Advanced Probability and Statistics-Second Edition is a clear presentation of the basic topics in statistics and probability, but finishes with the rigorous topics an advanced placement course requires. Volume 1 includes the first 6 chapters and covers the following topics: Analyzing Statistical Data, Visualizations of Data, Discrete Probability Distribution, Normal Distribution, and Experimentation.

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CK-12 Basic Geometry, Volume 2 Of 2

CK-12 Basic Geometry, Volume 2 Of 2 Author: CK-12 Foundation

CK-12's Basic Geometry FlexBook, Volumes 1 through 2, is designed to present students with geometric principles in a more graphics-oriented course. Volume 2 includes 6 chapters: Similarity, Right Triangle Trigonometry, Circles, Perimeter and Area, Surface Area and Volume, and Rigid Transformations.

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The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage) List price: $15.00
Lowest new price: $7.24
Lowest used price: $3.70
Author: Leonard Mlodinow

With the born storyteller's command of narrative and imaginative approach, Leonard Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how our lives are profoundly informed by chance and randomness and how everything from wine ratings and corporate success to school grades and political polls are less reliable than we believe.

 

By showing us the true nature of chance and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives us the tools we need to make more informed decisions. From the classroom to the courtroom and from financial markets to supermarkets, Mlodinow's intriguing and illuminating look at how randomness, chance, and probability affect our daily lives will intrigue, awe, and inspire.

 

Amazon Guest Review: Stephen Hawking
Published in 1988, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time became perhaps one of the unlikeliest bestsellers in history: a not-so-dumbed-down exploration of physics and the universe that occupied the London Sunday Times bestseller list for 237 weeks. Later successes include 1995’s A Briefer History of Time, The Universe in a Nutshell, and God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs that Changed History. Stephen Hawking is Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

In The Drunkard’s Walk Leonard Mlodinow provides readers with a wonderfully readable guide to how the mathematical laws of randomness affect our lives. With insight he shows how the hallmarks of chance are apparent in the course of events all around us. The understanding of randomness has brought about profound changes in the way we view our surroundings, and our universe. I am pleased that Leonard has skillfully explained this important branch of mathematics. --Stephen Hawking

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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information List price: $40.00
Lowest new price: $20.00
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Author: Edward R. Tufte

Hardcover: 200 pages Publisher: Graphics Pr; 2nd edition (May 2001) Language: English ISBN-10: 0961392142 ISBN-13: 978-0961392147 Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches

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