Probability: A Very Short Introduction

by John Haigh

Overview

Making good decisions under conditions of uncertainty requires a sound appreciation of the way random chance works. It requires, in short, an understanding of probability. In this Very Short Introduction, John Haigh introduces the ideas of probability—and the different philosophical approaches to probability—and gives a brief account of the history of development of probability theory, from Galileo and Pascal to Bayes, Laplace, Poisson, and Markov. He describes the basic probability distributions and discusses a wide range of applications in science, economics, and a variety of other contexts such as games and betting. He concludes with an intriguing discussion of coincidences and some curious paradoxes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199588480
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/04/2012
Series:	Very Short Introductions
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	522,730
Product dimensions:	4.30(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

John Haigh is a mathematics tutor at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

1. Fundamentals2. The workings of probability3. Historical sketch4. Chance experiments5. Making sense of probabilities6. Games people play7. Applications in science and operations research8. Other applications9. Curiosities and dilemmasAppendix - Answers to questions posed