- Paperback: 275 pages
- Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.; Unabridged edition (1 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0486400239
- ISBN-13: 978-0486400235
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,305,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
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
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Well researched account of the "prehistory" of statistics
20 Feb 2001
Format:Paperback
F.N. David explores early perception of and ideas about random variation, starting from games of chance and divination in antiquity. Her view on these is fascinating, as is her interpretation of early signs of the apparition of chance arithmetic in medieval literature. Then she recounts the controversies and the lives of the great scholars of the 16th and 17th centuries, and finally the origins of the first treatises on "problems of chance" between 1650 and about 1750 (ending with de Moivre). Furthermore, an interesting selection of (translated) source material is included in appendices.
F.N. David's book is written in an attractive, narrative style that seems a bit old-fashioned and opinionated at times but never monotonous. Her facts are well documented and her viewpoints are mostly well argued, yet she does not attempt an exhaustive or mathematical treatment. Therefore the book remains very readable and stimulating to the end.
At the end of the book, the idea of statistical inference has yet to emerge. The more monumental work of Stephen Stigler, "The History of Statistics", takes the story up more or less where F.N. David left it, around 1700.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
