Preface

Since 2012, authors of this book have been engaged in teaching of

probability and statistics for international exchange students. These

students are from the countries along the Belt and Road of Europe, Africa

and South Asia. They have very dierent learning bases which make it

quite difficult to find a textbook that suits them. Therefore, we prepared

a lecture of probability and statistics which is the prototype of this

book. We adopted the mode of content + example + exercises in this

textbook.

This text was designed for a onesemester course that covers the basic

topics needed for a fundamental understanding of probability and

statistics. Students using this text should have the equivalent of the

completion of one semester of calculus. Linear algebra would be helpful

but not necessary.

This textbook contains eight chapters. The first four chapters introduce

the theory of probability. Sample space, event, the basic probability,

discrete and continuous random variables are illustrated with examples.

The binomial, Poisson, and other useful discrete distributions are

discussed. In addition, continuous distributions include the normal and

exponential. In all cases, reallife scenarios are given to reveal how

these distributions are used in practical problems.

Chapters 5 and Chapter 6 are about the descriptive statistics. Chapter 7

and Chapter 8 provide a foundation for the solution of practical problems

in which estimation and hypothesis testing are employed.

Some parts of the content consult the books listed in the Bibliography. We

will give our thanks to these authors.

We are indebted to those colleagues who provide many helpful suggestions

for this textbook. This text is supported by The National Social Fund of

China 17BTJ023.

Editor

April, 2019

Hangzhou Dianzi University