Probability

More than most introductory texts this one is self contained without being overly pedantic. I took Prof. Pitman's course with a preprint of this book and then bought the published version as a reference. There really are no better introductory texts (I've purchased many) for working with the material at this level. Accompany it with a good problems book (such as Gunnary Blom's "Snapshots") and follow it with Allan Gut's "Intermediate Course in Probability" and you're all set.

I would guess all the intensely negative reviews are from "pure-math" types. But, if you need to understand how to apply probability to some real-world problem, this book is for you.I have never encountered such an easy-to-read description of probability. Also, there are absolutely great, intuitive examples which are non-trivial and easily extended. I completely disagree that this book encourages memorization -- rather, there are many examples which give both an intuitive/thinking-about-it solution and a formulaic solution.Also, there are easy-to-find "rules" for probablisitic-type functions and operations which are very clearly explained and accompanied with non-trivial examples.The notation may be a little clunky, but it is very easy to find the definitions and the index is reasonably complete. Also, there are several valuable appendicies. Oh, and there are solutions to odd-numbered excercises and solutions to mock-exams. What's not to like?I would recommend this book to those who need to know probability for their non-pure-math discipline (i.e. physics, engieering, life sciences, etc.) but can't afford to invest the time in a full course (although I'm sure a course which uses this book would be a great asset, as well).

This text presents the broad topic of probability in a clear-cut manner. The author provides as much theory as possible without the formal arguments needed for a graduate course. Instead, he uses logic developed throughout the course of the text to explain the theory in words. Also, his examples assist in completing the discussion on a topic. As both an undergraduate and statistics tutor at UC Berkeley, I believe that this text is superior to others when it comes to explaining probability to a beginner.

Professor Pitman's text was my introduction to probability, and an excellent one at that. The prose is clear and classic probability problems are used as examples and homework problems. The diagrams are modern and instructional, and the book is very well edited. I recommend this book to those interested in learning the basics of probability. P(Finding a better intro text)= 0.

After reading about 15 books involving elementary probability theory, including those written by Hoel, Port, and Stone (which my prof. unfortunately used for my class) and also Sheldon Ross, I came to the conclusion that Jim Pitman's Probability book is the best informative and intuitive book. It does not clutter the pages with needless notation that gets beginning students confused and more often than not intimidated. Being a student at UCBerkeley, I would like to praise Prof. Pitman on creating and excellent book.