Provides users with an accessible, yet mathematically solid, treatment of probability and random processes. Many computer examples integrated throughout, including random process examples in MATLAB. Includes expanded discussions of fundamental principles, especially basic probability. Includes new problems which deal with applications of basic theory—in such areas as medical imaging, percolation theory in fractals, and generation of random numbers. Several new topics include Failure rates, the Chernoff bound, interval estimation and the Student t-distribution, and power spectral density estimation. Functions of Random Variables is included as a separate chapter. Mean square convergence and introduction of Martingales is covered in the latter half of the book. Provides electrical and computer engineers with a solid treatment of probability and random processes.
not good. i did not like this book. not well organized, missing details here and there, and typos. all these make it hard to follow.
Give it time When I first used this book it was my first intro to probability ever. The text was very hard to read and understand and I had to go to the book by Yates/Goodman to get grounded in the basics. However, after some years I came back to it for review and this book is actually really good. It covers a lot of aspects of statistics, signal processing, pure mathematical probability theory, not just engineering-applied probability theory (and random processes of course). Even some stochastic calculus is thrown in. Of course there are other good books on the subject that range in focus, but this one is very good for (especially) engineers studying the subject at the graduate level and beyond. It is especially good for signal processing.
Wow... I am amazed that this book is used as a primary text at so many universities. While initially I was unsure if this was a poor text, or if I was simply not adequately prepared to take a probability course, I qucikly realized upon viewing other references that this book was useless and that there are so many other books on this subject which address probability in an intuitive manner. I sometimes read this book and wonder who the authors were writing this book for. The examples are completely overbearing in some cases. Take Example 5.5-3, which was a 4 page discourse on Black Lung, which was probably pulled out of a journal paper. While this could be an interesting topic in probability, it is frustrating, confusing and discouraging to someone trying to learn the subject. I will not even go into the books typographical errors, as they have been mentioned in several other reviews. My advice would be to check out other references if you are taking a class using this text. This book is useful only to people who have mastered the subject.
Some good some bad I found this book to be terrible when I was looking for something specific, but good if read from the start to finish of each chapter. My style of studying doesn't mesh well with the book's lack of a useful index and procedural organization within the text. The index is useless because common, major terms refer to pages that almost exclusively off-handedly mention the term with no further explanation. This organization makes it nearly useless as a reference book.
Great random processes book for engineers This book is ideal as a textbook in a class on random processes, particularly for engineers and those interested in signal processing and telecommunications. I have found the book very easy to follow, quite accessible and complete, and the example problems are very indicative of the approach you need to solve the exercises at the end of each chapter. I would not recommend this book for self-study, however, as I think that self-study of a subject as difficult as random processes would be tough going for anybody. The criticisms that I would make are: 1. The book is poorly edited. There are a moderate number of typos. Some are in places where it is obvious what the author meant, but a few are in critical equations that could mislead the reader. 2. There are no solutions to any of the exercises included in the book. It would really help if there were solutions to either odd or even problems included so that you would know you are on the right path. Since Amazon does not currently show the table of contents for this book, I do so for the purpose of completeness: Chapter one is an introduction to probability. This material is covered quickly, so the reader should just use this as a review. Chapter two introduces random variables. Included topics are the definition of a random variable, the probability density and distribution functions. This material is presented with exceptional clarity. Functions of Random Variables are introduced in chapter three. This is one of the hardest chapters in the book, although I have not been able to find another book that explains the same material as well. This is mainly concerned with finding the probability density functions of f(x) and f(x,y) given the pdf of the input functions. Convolution and multiple integrals abound in this chapter. Chapter 4 is Expectation and Introduction to Estimation. This sounds straightforward, but the material on conditional expectation can get complex, although the book covers it well. Chapter 5 is Random Vectors and Parameter Estimation. This chapter takes concepts from numerical linear algebra and applies it to random processes. Chapter six is random sequences and introduces linear systems concepts and markov processes. Chapters seven and eight talk about advanced concepts in random processes. Chapter nine discusses applications of the previous eight chapters to statistical signal processing. To get the most out of this book you should already be familiar with probability theory, multiple variable calculus, and linear algebra. If you are not, there is no way you are going to understand this material. A good companion to this book is Schaum's outline of Probability, Random Variables, and Random Processes. It covers most of the same material as this book, except that it does so with more of a mathematician's viewpoint. The Schaum's outline's solved problems also help offset the fact that there are no solutions to exercises in this book. Just remember that there is no textbook on a subject as complex as random processes that is going to negate the need for an instructor of exceptional ability.
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