[Self-Education] Statistics & Game Theory

Jason Todd

I'm a few weeks into my first semester of college and I'm beginning to miss math (two years of high school calculus fulfilled my requirements).

I never took a stats class in high school, and though I'll likely be taking one next semester, I want to learn more about it now. I feel like I'm missing out on a vital part of being an educated individual.

So I'm looking for books that provide a basic overview of statistics, as well as books that serve as an introduction to game theory (I'm an evolutionary biology major). I'm not intimidated by lots of math, but I don't know any real statistical terminology beyond the extreme basics (mean, standard deviation, etc).

Suggestions?

mspencer

Depending on your university, some math classes may also double as computer science classes. Maybe you can take something and have it count as other than math. For example, back in 04 I enrolled in "Number Theory and Cryptography." Awesome, I thought, we'll learn how to write code that does math on huge prime composites and stuff. Nope. Math class. There were currently-employed high school math teachers in the row behind me. X__X

Be warned, as math tends toward junior, senior, and grad level, there's a LOT more proofs. Math starts being a lot less about computation (i.e. can you remember the right transformation rules for a given situation, and apply the transformations correctly?) and a lot more about proofs (i.e. why is this true? Can you prove it's true for ALL situations?)

Beyond that, this is probably a question for an undergrad advisor.

Spoit

Yeah, stats is a good course to take at least once. Though I don't know what kind of science majors don't have you at least taking one semester of it...

scrivenerjones

This is the shit you want, right here: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Guide-Statistics-Larry-Gonick/dp/0062731025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254640812&sr=8-1

Jason Todd

To clear up the confusion, I'm not looking for suggestions on what classes to take (I'm already planning to take stats next semester) but books about the subject I can read now. Something to read in my free time.

solsovly

I'm going to check out that Cartoon Guide. I need a refresher on statistics for my next job and I think that will be a fun book to have on my desk.

Not to hijack the thread but any similar recommendations for math? I would be looking for a book that covers Algebra to Calculus. It's been about 8 years since I've seen a calculus book. I may have traded in my college calc book for a candy bar (thanks new edition!)

CrystalMethodist

I know that this is exactly NOT the answer you're looking for, but just wait the semester until you take the course. If you picked the class correctly, it should take you from the beginning through the material so you shouldn't need to read ahead of time. Why bother teaching yourself when you can get a college professor to teach it to you in a few months?

Maybe get the textbook required for that class? That way you can make sure you're going through the same material, and you also won't have to buy two books.

scrivenerjones

Classes are great but if you have a general sense of the topic before going in, you will be way happier without question

cartoon guide!

Jason Todd

CrystalMethodist wrote: »

I know that this is exactly NOT the answer you're looking for, but just wait the semester until you take the course. If you picked the class correctly, it should take you from the beginning through the material so you shouldn't need to read ahead of time. Why bother teaching yourself when you can get a college professor to teach it to you in a few months?

Maybe get the textbook required for that class? That way you can make sure you're going through the same material, and you also won't have to buy two books.

My experience with biology has been that if you take an active interest in the subject outside of class, you end up learning more in class and having a richer, fuller understanding of the subject.

Folken Fanel

A decent starter book would be Essentials of Statistics by Mario Triola. I use this book to teach the class I teach at a Community College. Another good one for you would be Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data by Agresti and Franklin.

If you want to get more calculus in bed with your statistics, you might want to look at Probability & Statistics for Engineers & Scientists by Walpole, et. al. or Statistics for Engineers and Scientists by Navidi. I've taught engineering stat courses using each book. Both are solid, but I prefer Walpole's.

If you really want to delve even deeper into mathematical statistics, I'd recommend Probability and Statistics by Degroot.

Should you decide you want to read a graduate-level book in Statistics, the gold standard is Statistical Inference by Casella & Berger.

Not too sure about many game theory books. I've seen some introductions to game theory from a statistical inference sense, but never anywhere else.

SimpsonsParadox

Coming from someone who works as a Student Aid Peer Math Reviewer (Read: Math Tutor - Pay) at a Community College and as someone majoring in Statistics, I can recommend Essentials of Statistics. It teaches the class quite well, and does a good job of ramping up off of mean/meadian/std dev/ etc. The third edition has its occasional wobbles (Right around a third of the way through the book it has an identity crisis on how you should deal with with/without replacement and giant sample sizes that can be kind of annoying if you're already struggling in that area), but overall it's a rather good book.