How Can I Maintain Interest and Improve My Understanding of Probability?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around maintaining interest and improving understanding of probability. Participants share their experiences with various resources and strategies for learning, including books and online materials, while also addressing issues of motivation and engagement in the subject.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a desire for a deep understanding of probability and shares their experience with specific books that they found unengaging or difficult.
  • Another participant recommends Walpole, Myers, Myers, & Ye's textbook as a potentially good introduction, noting its requirement for a calculus background to understand continuous probability distributions.
  • Several participants suggest specific books aimed at beginners, including "Probability: For the Enthusiastic Beginner" by David J. Morin and "The Probability Tutoring Book" by Carol Ash, highlighting their intuitive approaches.
  • Free resources are mentioned, such as Matloff's "From Algorithms to Z-Scores" and Grinsted & Snell's "Introduction to Probability," with one participant reflecting on their past experiences with different textbooks.
  • A participant raises a concern about losing motivation and interest in studying probability, prompting others to suggest strategies like solving problems, discussing in groups, and teaching concepts to others as ways to stay engaged.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the importance of finding engaging resources and strategies to maintain interest in probability. However, there is no consensus on which specific books or methods are most effective, as experiences and preferences vary widely.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the necessity of a calculus background for understanding certain probability concepts, which may limit the accessibility of some resources for those without this foundation. Additionally, the effectiveness of different learning strategies may depend on individual learning styles and preferences.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for individuals seeking to enhance their understanding of probability, particularly those who have struggled with traditional textbooks or are looking for engaging learning strategies.

Maths Absorber
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I want to have a deep understanding of probability.

I've tried William Feller's first book on Probability, and E.T Jaynes' Probability theory - the logic of science (which is very different from most probability books.)
But, neither books could hold my interest for long. The first was too boring. The second was too tough to understand.

Please suggest some strategies and books that can help me.

As far as the level of my current knowledge goes, I know basic combinatorial probability, conditional probability, Bayesian probability, binomial, Poisson and Normal distribution. I only know how to apply the normal distribution, not how to derive it.
 
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Personally, I used Walpole, Myers, Myers, & Ye 7th ed. to learn these topics. Newer editions are available pretty inexpensively, and it might be a decent introduction for you. It assumes the reader to have a good background in calculus, which is required for deriving and applying the normal distribution.

Calculus is required to understand and apply most continuous probability distributions and applications, actually.

Realistically, though, before you buy any more books, I encourage you to watch some online lectures, and start to do problems out of the books you have. When you run into difficulties, ask questions in the Homework and Coursework Questions sub-forum here.
 
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Free options on to check out before purchasing something,

Matloff. From Algorithms to Z-Scores. http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/matloff/public_html/probstatbook.html
Grinsted & Snell. Introduction to Probability. https://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/probability_book/amsbook.mac.pdf

I haven't read these since I first studied the subject in school (course used Ross' First Course in Probability and another using Casella & Berger's Statistical Inference where the first half is probability). The first would be more interesting to a computer scientist such as myself. I'm thinking of reading portions of the book for review when I have the time. The second is more standard and I've seen recommended elsewhere.
 
Can you tell me some ways to stay motivated ? The problem is I'm getting bored and losing interest very fast.
 
Maths Absorber said:
Can you tell me some ways to stay motivated ? The problem is I'm getting bored and losing interest very fast.
Solve Problems. Discuss in groups. Teach someone what you learn.
 

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