or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics)
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) [Paperback]

Frederick Mosteller
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £4.21 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.78 (40%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Want guaranteed delivery by Monday, February 13? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback £4.21  
Unknown Binding --  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details.

Frequently Bought Together

Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) + My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles (Math & Logic Puzzles) + The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations (Math & Logic Puzzles)
Price For All Three: £15.23

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together


Product details

  • Paperback: 88 pages
  • Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.; New edition edition (1 Feb 1988)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0486653552
  • ISBN-13: 978-0486653556
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 12.2 x 0.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 9,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frederick Mosteller
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's Frederick Mosteller Page

Product Description

Product Description

Remarkable selection of puzzlers, graded in difficulty, that illustrate both elementary and advanced aspects of probability. Selected for originality, general interest or because they demonstrate valuable techniques, the problems are ideal as a supplement to courses in probability or statistics, or as stimulating recreation for the mathematically minded. Detailed solutions. Illustrated.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(2)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Less is more, 27 Jun 2011
By 
This review is from: Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)
A book of small proportions that contains a wealth of knowledge.
Well worth buying for any a level student or ,indeed, for anyone who is interested in the world around them.
Most of the problems are old chestnuts but are dealt with in a way that is accessible to anyone with a modicum of mathematical grounding.Terrific value.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic, 23 Nov 2011
This review is from: Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)
It's what I was expecting, although I would like to find more surprises. The problems that are presented are the clclassic problems.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)

122 of 125 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A look at the essence of probability, at all levels, 4 July 2001
By Mary P. Campbell "math geek" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)
If Mosteller hadn't included the solutions, this would have been a short book indeed -- 56 problems simply stated in 14 pages. You'll soon find, however, that some problems, which are the shortest to set up, take a great deal of brainpower. It starts innocently enough - some simple-sounding problems on socks in drawers, flipping coins, and rolling dice. Soon enough, you end up with paper black with numbers and pictures of a flipping coin (how thick does a coin need to be so that it lands on its =side= with probability 1/3?) If you get drawn in deep (as I did), you may even wonder what probability really means.

Some of the problems are classic, such as the problem of how many people would it take for the probability that at least two of them have the same birthday is greater than a half (I'll give this answer away: 23. But do you know why?) One of the dice problems actually recalls the history of the development of probability as a separate mathematical field -- problem #19, involving dice bets that Samuel Pepys asked Isaac Newton to figure out. Some of the problems are simply openers for entire vistas in probability - avoid problems #51 and #52 if you wish to not become enmeshed in concerns of random walks (remember that one of Einstein's earliest papers was on Brownian motion - a molecular random walk.) I used problem #25, which deal with "random chords on a circle", to explore this classic probability paradox - I've ended up with three different figures, all of which seem plausible! It gets deep to what one means by "random chord".

This book, though so thin, is inexhaustible in spawning disturbing questions about probability; even more useful is that there are questions for people at =any= level of knowledge of probability. Those who wish to think about "counting" problems (like those involving rolling dice, or pulling balls out of urns) will find those here. Those who have an interest in continuous probability will find problems which will interest them. And those old probability pros who ponder the essence of chance will find meat for some productive chewing.


34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I passed my PhD qualifier because of this book!, 12 Jun 2000
By UNPINGCO - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)
Excellent selection of problems and very explanatory and detailed solutions. This gets to the ideas behind many of the popular methods in probability, like maximum likelihood. The concepts are given centerstage and provide insights on "how to think" about many problems in probability.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars useful, effective fun, 1 Feb 2002
By mcnicely - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fifty Challenging Problems in Probability: With Solutions (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)
Working through the colorful problems in this book is a great way to (re)learn and apply basic probability principles. There is a great deal of independence between problem so you are never quite sure how tough or easy the next one will be. On the other hand, several of the problems are clearly follow-ons that allow the exploration or expansion of some of the more interesting issues.

Though I've worked through the problems a couple of times, I bought a replacement copy when my original was "permanently borrowed" from my desk at work.

 Go to Amazon.com to see all 16 reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars 
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges