J. Laurie Snell - Böcker

With the first edition out of print, we decided to arrange for republi­ cation of Denumerrible Markov Ohains with additional bibliographic material. The new edition contains a section Additional Notes that indicates some of the developments in Markov chain theory over the last ten years. As in the first edition and for the same reasons, we have resisted the temptation to follow the theory in directions that deal with uncountable state spaces or continuous time. A section entitled Additional References complements the Additional Notes. J. W. Pitman pointed out an error in Theorem 9-53 of the first edition, which we have corrected. More detail about the correction appears in the Additional Notes. Aside from this change, we have left intact the text of the first eleven chapters. The second edition contains a twelfth chapter, written by David Griffeath, on Markov random fields. We are grateful to Ted Cox for his help in preparing this material. Notes for the chapter appear in the section Additional Notes. J.G.K., J.L.S., A.W.K.

This text is designed for an introductory probability course at the university level for sophomores, juniors, and seniors in mathematics, physical and social sciences, engineering, and computer science. It presents a thorough treatment of ideas and techniques necessary for a firm understanding of the subject.The text is also recommended for use in discrete probability courses. The material is organized so that the discrete and continuous probability discussions are presented in a separate, but parallel, manner. This organization does not emphasize an overly rigorous or formal view of probability and therefore offers some strong pedagogical value. Hence, the discrete discussions can sometimes serve to motivate the more abstract continuous probability discussions. Features: Key ideas are developed in a somewhat leisurely style, providing a variety of interesting applications to probability and showing some nonintuitive ideas. Over 600 exercises provide the opportunity for practicing skills and developing a sound understanding of ideas. Numerous historical comments deal with the development of discrete probability.The text includes many computer programs that illustrate the algorithms or the methods of computation for important problems.

With the first edition out of print, we decided to arrange for republi­ cation of Denumerrible Markov Ohains with additional bibliographic material. The new edition contains a section Additional Notes that indicates some of the developments in Markov chain theory over the last ten years. As in the first edition and for the same reasons, we have resisted the temptation to follow the theory in directions that deal with uncountable state spaces or continuous time. A section entitled Additional References complements the Additional Notes. J. W. Pitman pointed out an error in Theorem 9-53 of the first edition, which we have corrected. More detail about the correction appears in the Additional Notes. Aside from this change, we have left intact the text of the first eleven chapters. The second edition contains a twelfth chapter, written by David Griffeath, on Markov random fields. We are grateful to Ted Cox for his help in preparing this material. Notes for the chapter appear in the section Additional Notes. J.G.K., J.L.S., A.W.K.