From terrorist attacks to big money jackpots, Struck by Lightning deconstructs the odds and oddities of chance, examining both the relevant and irreverent role of randomness in our everyday lives. Human beings have long been both fascinated and appalled by randomness. On the one hand, we love the thrill of a surprise party, the unpredictability of a budding romance, or the freedom of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. We are inexplicably delighted by strange coincidences and striking similarities. But we also hate uncertainty's dark side. From cancer to SARS, diseases strike with no apparent pattern. Terrorists attack, airplanes crash, bridges collapse, and we never know if we'll be that one in a million statistic. We are all constantly faced with situations and choices that involve randomness and uncertainty. A basic understanding of the rules of probability theory, applied to real-life circumstances, can help us to make sense of these situations, to avoid unnecessary fear, to seize the opportunities that randomness presents to us, and to actually enjoy the uncertainties we face. The reality is that when it comes to randomness, you can run, but you can't hide. So many aspects of our lives are governed by events that are simply not in our control. In this entertaining yet sophisticated look at the world of probabilities, author Jeffrey Rosenthal--an improbably talented math professor--explains the mechanics of randomness and teaches us how to develop an informed perspective on probability.

Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities

Science & Math

Jeffrey S. Rosenthal

Mathematics

Harpercollins Canada

ABC Books AU

Vom Blitz getroffen. Die seltsame Welt des Zufalls

Le regole del caso: istruzioni per l'uso

Longanesi

First Look At Stochastic Processes, A

This textbook introduces the theory of stochastic processes, that is, randomness which proceeds in time. Using concrete examples like repeated gambling and jumping frogs, it presents fundamental mathematical results through simple, clear, logical theorems and examples. It covers in detail such essential material as Markov chain recurrence criteria, the Markov chain convergence theorem, and optional stopping theorems for martingales. The final chapter provides a brief introduction to Brownian motion, Markov processes in continuous time and space, Poisson processes, and renewal theory. 
 Interspersed throughout are applications to such topics as gambler's ruin probabilities, random walks on graphs, sequence waiting times, branching processes, stock option pricing, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. 
 The focus is always on making the theory as well-motivated and accessible as possible, to allow students and readers to learn this fascinating subject as easily and painlessly as possible. 
 Readership: Senior undergraduate and graduate students in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Finance, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Actuarial Science, and other fields, who already know some basic probability theory, and who want to learn the foundations of stochastic processes — including Markov chains, martingales, continuous processes, and a variety of applications.

FIRST LOOK AT STOCHASTIC PROCESSES, A

World Scientific Publishing Co.

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Books by Jeffrey S. Rosenthal