Basic Practice of Statistics [with CD-ROM & WebAssign 1-Term Access Code]

by David S. Moore, WebAssign

[This book] is an introduction to statistics for students in two-year and four-year colleges and universities that emphasizes working with data and statistical ideas. It is designed to be accessible to students with limited quantitative background - just" algebra" in the sense of being able to read and use simple equations. The book is usable with almost any level of technology for calculating and graphing - from a simple "two-variables statistics" calculator through a graphing calculator or spreadsheet program through full statistical software. -To the instructor.

Genres: Textbooks, Reference, Science, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Research Methods, College

730 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David S. Moore is (retired) Shanti S. Gupta Distinguished Emeritus Professor of statistics at Purdue University (Lafayette, IN).

Reviews

[Alessandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good textbook on statistics, though I think too much space is devoted towards theory. Building up to t-stats using z-values makes sense in theory, but I think my students found it more confusing than helpful. That said, it's the first textbook I've read that I actually enjoyed reading.

[Jann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was easily one of the worst textbooks I've ever had to muddle through. Explanations were not cohesive, not thorough, and often were in no particular order. I learned more from Khan Academy videos and my instructor (who was actually mostly useless as well.) The textbook was just one more level of frustration to this class. I only learned anything because I found resources for myself.

[Craig Rowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introductory Statistics book covering data exploration, collection, description, classification, quantification, graphing, and rudimentary cleansing. Later chapters explore inference, regressions, the most common distributions, sampling, and Z/T hypothesis testing for single statistic means and proportions. All required skills, sans basic mathematics, are enabled by this book.

[Agentrnge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read up to Ch 23 for an introductory stat class. Other than a handful of awkwardly worded explanations, the text was easy to follow and learn from.

[David Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing textbook with lots of context, content, and great mnemonics!

[Tannei Sarker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too expensive

[Ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illegal download version off lib gen is NOT user friendly

[astaliegurec · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 out of 5 stars
A Decent Primer for Statistics
February 9, 2005

Before you use this book, make sure you understand the author's purpose:

"Although the book is elementary in the level of mathematics required and in the statistical procedures presented, it aims to give students both an understanding of the main ideas of statistics and useful skills for working with data" (Preface, pp xiv-xv).

The key point here is "elementary in the level of mathematics required." Essentially, this is a math-lite version of statistics. With that in mind, the author did a decent job of passing on a working knowledge of statistics (I'll bet all the math in the book could fit on one 5x8 card). Also, the book has TONS of examples. I'd say that at least half of the text is just the author working through real-world examples. So, if you have trouble understanding the statistical concepts the author is trying to get across, there's sure to be plenty of examples immediately following his explanation to help you work things out.

To add a bit more information to the raw data of these reviews, I've mapped the universe of all possible readers of this book onto a set of x-y axes. Let the x-axis run from "non-Math-types" up through "Math-types." Let they y-axis go from "non-geniuses" up through "geniuses:"

- Quadrant I: genius Math-types might as well not even pick this book up. There's almost no math here, nothing is proven, and the example-to-meat ratio is darn near infinite.
- Quadrant II: genius non-Math-types, like the Quadrant Is, should also skip this book. The application focus will please them, but that example-to-meat ratio I mentioned above will bore them to tears.
- Quadrant III: non-genius non-Math-types (i.e., "normal" people). Normally, I consider this one group. However, this book is probably at too simple a level for most of them. The book essentially starts from the assumption that the reader has never used Excel or a calculator to put numbers into a table and graph them. In this day and age, most people will probably be familiar with this. However, for those who aren't, or for those looking for an easy primer in statistics, this is the book for you. Starting, essentially, from scratch, the author will move you up to an ability to understand and use statistics better than most people on the planet (nothing esoteric, just the core stuff). About the only math you need is basic Algebra.
- Quadrant IV: non-genius Math-types, like the Quadrant Is and Quadrant IIs, should probably avoid this book. There's just not enough math in it to satisfy their learning desires. Plus, since they're Math-types, they will probably already know enough math to make what's in this book redundant.

Overall, this is a decent book (I rate it 4 stars out of 5). The author did a good job matching his material to his chosen audience (a subset of Quadrant IIIs). For anyone on the "genius" or "Math" side of my coordinate system, I highly recommend they AVOID this book. For the majority of the Quadrant III ("normal") people, the lack of almost any math might make the book too simplistic. But, for those with few math skills and little background in number manipulation or graphing, this is a very good start.

[Nanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty good. I'm no mathematician and taking statistics independent study had me pretty psyched out! In fact, I saved it for my LAST class required for graduation. It was a full court press to finish the course in the short 3 months that I had. Between this text and the stat tutor online videos via Launchpad, I was successful.

[Scott Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

1 out of 1 students gives this book 3 stars.

X-bar:3
N:1

This was the book I read for Math 232 Elementary Statistics. Here is what you will learn:

How n choose t or z
What p has to do with alpha
When to use sigma instead of s

I'm done!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was easy to understand and the problems were never dry and always helpful. It is easy to see why this book is used in countless statistic classes around the country.

[Mike]

I'm going to be taking a class in statistics next fall so I thought I'd get a head start.

[Mskittenkaboodle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Approachable for absolute beginners and easy to understand.

[Jeff La Marca · Rating 3 out of 5]

non-fiction,statistics

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a piece of garbage. Look if you enjoy wasting your time on low level tedious work then buy this book. I can't stand much of the computation and it's annoying how poorly written the examples are for reference to other problems. I am very annoyed that i needed to buy this book for my class for my degree. I seriously wish I could give less than one star on this book. I've taken calculus 2 and that was a lot less busy work than this book.