READINGS

John G. Kemeny, Gerald Thompson and J. Laurie Snell, Introduction to Finite Mathematics Mathematics (Prentice Hall). Finite was born at Dartmouth in 1954. There are now hundreds of finite mathematics books and most, like this one, have a good basic introduction to probability.

David Freedman, Robert Pisani and Roger Purves, Statistics (Norton). A good way to see probability in action is to look at statistical experiments. For example, in this book you learn a lot of probability studying why opinion polls work—and why they sometimes don't work. The authors explain probability and statistical concepts with English sentences rather than formulas and real rather than artificial data.

J.Laurie Snell, Introduction to Probability (Random House Birkhauser). This is the book used for our probability course, and it takes advantage of the fact that all mathematics students at Dartmouth can write their own programs in the new KemenyKurtz True BASIC language. The computer provides a wonderful laboratory for studying probability. If you want to give your Macintosh a workout, the author, upon request, will send you a disk with the programs that appear in the book so you can see this for yourself.

Bob Fisch and David Griffeath, Graphical Aids for Stochastic Processes (Wadsworth and Brooks/Cole). As a student at Dartmouth, David Griffeath '71 studied probability from us and how to make films from Blair Watson, director of College films until 1981. Griffeath has now combined these talents to produce a series of disks for IBM-compatible computers that provide animated illustrations of chance processes. You will hold your breath hoping that the toad, out for a random walk, will reach the princess before the dragon does. Great for all ages!

William Feller, An Introduction toProbability Theory and its Applications (Wiley). This is the book that got most of us excited about probability. Feller was one of the greats of modern probability theory. He shows the depth of applications of probability that can be made to all fields without using high-powered mathematics. It's hard reading but has wonderful examples and insight into the subject.

Howard Raiffa, Decision Analysis: Introductory Lectures on Choices underUncertainty (Addison-Wesley). Raiffa shows how to apply probability to decision problems involving a sequence of unpredictable outcomes that affect the final outcome.