Author: S.C. Gupta
Publisher: Sultan Chand & Sons
ISBN: 9351611736
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 22
Book Description
Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Some prominent additions are given below: 1. Variance of Degenerate Random Variable 2. Approximate Expression for Expectation and Variance 3. Lyapounov’s Inequality 4. Holder’s Inequality 5. Minkowski’s Inequality 6. Double Expectation Rule or Double-E Rule and many others
Fundamentals of Mathematical Statistics
Author: S.C. Gupta
Publisher: Sultan Chand & Sons
ISBN: 9351611736
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 22
Book Description
Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Some prominent additions are given below: 1. Variance of Degenerate Random Variable 2. Approximate Expression for Expectation and Variance 3. Lyapounov’s Inequality 4. Holder’s Inequality 5. Minkowski’s Inequality 6. Double Expectation Rule or Double-E Rule and many others
Publisher: Sultan Chand & Sons
ISBN: 9351611736
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 22
Book Description
Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Knowledge updating is a never-ending process and so should be the revision of an effective textbook. The book originally written fifty years ago has, during the intervening period, been revised and reprinted several times. The authors have, however, been thinking, for the last few years that the book needed not only a thorough revision but rather a substantial rewriting. They now take great pleasure in presenting to the readers the twelfth, thoroughly revised and enlarged, Golden Jubilee edition of the book. The subject-matter in the entire book has been re-written in the light of numerous criticisms and suggestions received from the users of the earlier editions in India and abroad. The basis of this revision has been the emergence of new literature on the subject, the constructive feedback from students and teaching fraternity, as well as those changes that have been made in the syllabi and/or the pattern of examination papers of numerous universities. Some prominent additions are given below: 1. Variance of Degenerate Random Variable 2. Approximate Expression for Expectation and Variance 3. Lyapounov’s Inequality 4. Holder’s Inequality 5. Minkowski’s Inequality 6. Double Expectation Rule or Double-E Rule and many others
Fundamentals of Statistics
Author: Michael Sullivan III
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN: 0321947207
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 686
Book Description
This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Drawing upon his passion for statistics and teaching, Mike Sullivan addresses the needs of today’s students, the challenges teachers face, and changes in the statistics community. With feedback from his own students and classroom experience, Fundamentals of Statistics provides the tools to help students learn better and think statistically in a concise, friendly presentation. The CD conatins all the student supplement content , the data sets, graphing calculator manual, excel manual, a PDF of the Formula and Table card from the back of the book, and a guide to using statcrunch with the title. Note: This is just the standalone book and CD, it does not come with an Access Card. If an Access Card is required ask your instructor for the ISBN of the package which would include the Book & CD plus the Access Card..
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN: 0321947207
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 686
Book Description
This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come packaged with the bound book. Drawing upon his passion for statistics and teaching, Mike Sullivan addresses the needs of today’s students, the challenges teachers face, and changes in the statistics community. With feedback from his own students and classroom experience, Fundamentals of Statistics provides the tools to help students learn better and think statistically in a concise, friendly presentation. The CD conatins all the student supplement content , the data sets, graphing calculator manual, excel manual, a PDF of the Formula and Table card from the back of the book, and a guide to using statcrunch with the title. Note: This is just the standalone book and CD, it does not come with an Access Card. If an Access Card is required ask your instructor for the ISBN of the package which would include the Book & CD plus the Access Card..
Fundamentals of Probability and Statistics for Engineers
Author: T. T. Soong
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470868155
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
This textbook differs from others in the field in that it has been prepared very much with students and their needs in mind, having been classroom tested over many years. It is a true “learner’s book” made for students who require a deeper understanding of probability and statistics. It presents the fundamentals of the subject along with concepts of probabilistic modelling, and the process of model selection, verification and analysis. Furthermore, the inclusion of more than 100 examples and 200 exercises (carefully selected from a wide range of topics), along with a solutions manual for instructors, means that this text is of real value to students and lecturers across a range of engineering disciplines. Key features: Presents the fundamentals in probability and statistics along with relevant applications. Explains the concept of probabilistic modelling and the process of model selection, verification and analysis. Definitions and theorems are carefully stated and topics rigorously treated. Includes a chapter on regression analysis. Covers design of experiments. Demonstrates practical problem solving throughout the book with numerous examples and exercises purposely selected from a variety of engineering fields. Includes an accompanying online Solutions Manual for instructors containing complete step-by-step solutions to all problems.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470868155
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
This textbook differs from others in the field in that it has been prepared very much with students and their needs in mind, having been classroom tested over many years. It is a true “learner’s book” made for students who require a deeper understanding of probability and statistics. It presents the fundamentals of the subject along with concepts of probabilistic modelling, and the process of model selection, verification and analysis. Furthermore, the inclusion of more than 100 examples and 200 exercises (carefully selected from a wide range of topics), along with a solutions manual for instructors, means that this text is of real value to students and lecturers across a range of engineering disciplines. Key features: Presents the fundamentals in probability and statistics along with relevant applications. Explains the concept of probabilistic modelling and the process of model selection, verification and analysis. Definitions and theorems are carefully stated and topics rigorously treated. Includes a chapter on regression analysis. Covers design of experiments. Demonstrates practical problem solving throughout the book with numerous examples and exercises purposely selected from a variety of engineering fields. Includes an accompanying online Solutions Manual for instructors containing complete step-by-step solutions to all problems.
The Basic Practice of Statistics
Author: David S. Moore
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 1429224266
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 975
Book Description
This is a clear and innovative overview of statistics which emphasises major ideas, essential skills and real-life data. The organisation and design has been improved for the fifth edition, coverage of engaging, real-world topics has been increased and content has been updated to appeal to today's trends and research.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 1429224266
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 975
Book Description
This is a clear and innovative overview of statistics which emphasises major ideas, essential skills and real-life data. The organisation and design has been improved for the fifth edition, coverage of engaging, real-world topics has been increased and content has been updated to appeal to today's trends and research.
Fundamentals of Descriptive Statistics
Author: Zealure C Holcomb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351970321
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 95
Book Description
• Do your students need to organize and summarize data for term projects? Will they need to perform these tasks on the job? This book gives them thorough preparation. • In twelve short chapters, your students will learn the purposes of descriptive statistics, their calculation, and proper interpretation. • Actual data on the emotional health of foster-care adolescents are used throughout the book to illustrate various ways of deriving meaning from the data with descriptive statistics. Other interesting examples are also included. • Computational procedures are illustrated with step-by-step, easy-to-follow examples. • End-of-chapter exercises provide ample practice for students to master both computations and statistical concepts. • Eliminates the need for students to buy a traditional statistics book that emphasizes inferential statistics. • Thoroughly field-tested for student comprehension. • This book will please you and your students with its clarity of presentation. • Outstanding supplement for students who need to describe term project data.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351970321
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 95
Book Description
• Do your students need to organize and summarize data for term projects? Will they need to perform these tasks on the job? This book gives them thorough preparation. • In twelve short chapters, your students will learn the purposes of descriptive statistics, their calculation, and proper interpretation. • Actual data on the emotional health of foster-care adolescents are used throughout the book to illustrate various ways of deriving meaning from the data with descriptive statistics. Other interesting examples are also included. • Computational procedures are illustrated with step-by-step, easy-to-follow examples. • End-of-chapter exercises provide ample practice for students to master both computations and statistical concepts. • Eliminates the need for students to buy a traditional statistics book that emphasizes inferential statistics. • Thoroughly field-tested for student comprehension. • This book will please you and your students with its clarity of presentation. • Outstanding supplement for students who need to describe term project data.
Even You Can Learn Statistics
Author: David M. Levine
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 013287671X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 443
Book Description
Even You Can Learn Statistics: A Guide for Everyone Who Has Ever Been Afraid of Statisticsi s a practical, up-to-date introduction to statistics—for everyone! Thought you couldn’t learn statistics? You can—and you will! One easy step at a time, this fully updated book teaches you all the statistical techniques you’ll need for finance, quality, marketing, the social sciences, or anything else! Simple jargon-free explanations help you understand every technique. Practical examples and worked-out problems give you hands-on practice. Special sections present detailed instructions for developing statistical answers, using spreadsheet programs or any TI-83/TI-84 compatible calculator. This edition delivers new examples, more detailed problems and sample solutions, plus an all-new chapter on powerful multiple regression techniques. Hate math? No sweat. You’ll be amazed at how little you need. Like math? Optional “Equation Blackboard” sections reveal the mathematical foundations of statistics right before your eyes! You’ll learn how to: • Construct and interpret statistical charts and tables with Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc 3 • Work with mean, median, mode, standard deviation, Z scores, skewness, and other descriptive statistics • Use probability and probability distributions • Work with sampling distributions and confidence intervals • Test hypotheses with Z, t, chi-square, ANOVA, and other techniques • Perform powerful regression analysis and modeling • Use multiple regression to develop models that contain several independent variables • Master specific statistical techniques for quality and Six Sigma programs About the Web Site Download practice files, templates, data sets, and sample spreadsheet models—including ready-to-use solutions for your own work! www.ftpress.com/youcanlearnstatistics2e
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 013287671X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 443
Book Description
Even You Can Learn Statistics: A Guide for Everyone Who Has Ever Been Afraid of Statisticsi s a practical, up-to-date introduction to statistics—for everyone! Thought you couldn’t learn statistics? You can—and you will! One easy step at a time, this fully updated book teaches you all the statistical techniques you’ll need for finance, quality, marketing, the social sciences, or anything else! Simple jargon-free explanations help you understand every technique. Practical examples and worked-out problems give you hands-on practice. Special sections present detailed instructions for developing statistical answers, using spreadsheet programs or any TI-83/TI-84 compatible calculator. This edition delivers new examples, more detailed problems and sample solutions, plus an all-new chapter on powerful multiple regression techniques. Hate math? No sweat. You’ll be amazed at how little you need. Like math? Optional “Equation Blackboard” sections reveal the mathematical foundations of statistics right before your eyes! You’ll learn how to: • Construct and interpret statistical charts and tables with Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc 3 • Work with mean, median, mode, standard deviation, Z scores, skewness, and other descriptive statistics • Use probability and probability distributions • Work with sampling distributions and confidence intervals • Test hypotheses with Z, t, chi-square, ANOVA, and other techniques • Perform powerful regression analysis and modeling • Use multiple regression to develop models that contain several independent variables • Master specific statistical techniques for quality and Six Sigma programs About the Web Site Download practice files, templates, data sets, and sample spreadsheet models—including ready-to-use solutions for your own work! www.ftpress.com/youcanlearnstatistics2e
Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
Author: David C. Howell
Publisher: Cengage Learning
ISBN: 9780357670682
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES focuses on providing the context of statistics in behavioral research, while emphasizing the importance of looking at data before jumping into a test. This practical approach provides students with an understanding of the logic behind the statistics, so they understand why and how certain methods are used -- rather than simply carry out techniques by rote. Students move beyond number crunching to discover the meaning of statistical results and appreciate how the statistical test to be employed relates to the research questions posed by an experiment. Written in an informal style, the text provides an abundance of real data and research studies that provide a real-life perspective and help students learn and understand concepts. In alignment with current trends in statistics in the behavioral sciences, the text emphasizes effect sizes and meta-analysis, and integrates frequent demonstrations of computer analyses through SPSS and R. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
Publisher: Cengage Learning
ISBN: 9780357670682
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES focuses on providing the context of statistics in behavioral research, while emphasizing the importance of looking at data before jumping into a test. This practical approach provides students with an understanding of the logic behind the statistics, so they understand why and how certain methods are used -- rather than simply carry out techniques by rote. Students move beyond number crunching to discover the meaning of statistical results and appreciate how the statistical test to be employed relates to the research questions posed by an experiment. Written in an informal style, the text provides an abundance of real data and research studies that provide a real-life perspective and help students learn and understand concepts. In alignment with current trends in statistics in the behavioral sciences, the text emphasizes effect sizes and meta-analysis, and integrates frequent demonstrations of computer analyses through SPSS and R. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.
Fundamentals of Modern Statistical Methods
Author: Rand R. Wilcox
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441955240
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Conventional statistical methods have a very serious flaw. They routinely miss differences among groups or associations among variables that are detected by more modern techniques, even under very small departures from normality. Hundreds of journal articles have described the reasons standard techniques can be unsatisfactory, but simple, intuitive explanations are generally unavailable. Situations arise where even highly nonsignificant results become significant when analyzed with more modern methods. Without assuming the reader has any prior training in statistics, Part I of this book describes basic statistical principles from a point of view that makes their shortcomings intuitive and easy to understand. The emphasis is on verbal and graphical descriptions of concepts. Part II describes modern methods that address the problems covered in Part I. Using data from actual studies, many examples are included to illustrate the practical problems with conventional procedures and how more modern methods can make a substantial difference in the conclusions reached in many areas of statistical research. The second edition of this book includes a number of advances and insights that have occurred since the first edition appeared. Included are new results relevant to medians, regression, measures of association, strategies for comparing dependent groups, methods for dealing with heteroscedasticity, and measures of effect size.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441955240
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
Conventional statistical methods have a very serious flaw. They routinely miss differences among groups or associations among variables that are detected by more modern techniques, even under very small departures from normality. Hundreds of journal articles have described the reasons standard techniques can be unsatisfactory, but simple, intuitive explanations are generally unavailable. Situations arise where even highly nonsignificant results become significant when analyzed with more modern methods. Without assuming the reader has any prior training in statistics, Part I of this book describes basic statistical principles from a point of view that makes their shortcomings intuitive and easy to understand. The emphasis is on verbal and graphical descriptions of concepts. Part II describes modern methods that address the problems covered in Part I. Using data from actual studies, many examples are included to illustrate the practical problems with conventional procedures and how more modern methods can make a substantial difference in the conclusions reached in many areas of statistical research. The second edition of this book includes a number of advances and insights that have occurred since the first edition appeared. Included are new results relevant to medians, regression, measures of association, strategies for comparing dependent groups, methods for dealing with heteroscedasticity, and measures of effect size.
An Introduction to Statistical Learning
Author: Gareth James
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031387473
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 617
Book Description
An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance, marketing, and astrophysics in the past twenty years. This book presents some of the most important modeling and prediction techniques, along with relevant applications. Topics include linear regression, classification, resampling methods, shrinkage approaches, tree-based methods, support vector machines, clustering, deep learning, survival analysis, multiple testing, and more. Color graphics and real-world examples are used to illustrate the methods presented. This book is targeted at statisticians and non-statisticians alike, who wish to use cutting-edge statistical learning techniques to analyze their data. Four of the authors co-wrote An Introduction to Statistical Learning, With Applications in R (ISLR), which has become a mainstay of undergraduate and graduate classrooms worldwide, as well as an important reference book for data scientists. One of the keys to its success was that each chapter contains a tutorial on implementing the analyses and methods presented in the R scientific computing environment. However, in recent years Python has become a popular language for data science, and there has been increasing demand for a Python-based alternative to ISLR. Hence, this book (ISLP) covers the same materials as ISLR but with labs implemented in Python. These labs will be useful both for Python novices, as well as experienced users.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031387473
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 617
Book Description
An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance, marketing, and astrophysics in the past twenty years. This book presents some of the most important modeling and prediction techniques, along with relevant applications. Topics include linear regression, classification, resampling methods, shrinkage approaches, tree-based methods, support vector machines, clustering, deep learning, survival analysis, multiple testing, and more. Color graphics and real-world examples are used to illustrate the methods presented. This book is targeted at statisticians and non-statisticians alike, who wish to use cutting-edge statistical learning techniques to analyze their data. Four of the authors co-wrote An Introduction to Statistical Learning, With Applications in R (ISLR), which has become a mainstay of undergraduate and graduate classrooms worldwide, as well as an important reference book for data scientists. One of the keys to its success was that each chapter contains a tutorial on implementing the analyses and methods presented in the R scientific computing environment. However, in recent years Python has become a popular language for data science, and there has been increasing demand for a Python-based alternative to ISLR. Hence, this book (ISLP) covers the same materials as ISLR but with labs implemented in Python. These labs will be useful both for Python novices, as well as experienced users.
Fundamentals of Statistics in Health Administration
Author: Robert W. Broyles
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 9780763745561
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 394
Book Description
There is a vast need for statistical analysis and applications in health care administration. However, students typically have weak quantitative skills. Yet students typically come armed with weak quantitative skills and a poor understanding of statistics. Statistics are a key element of many health administration courses - financial management, quantitative methods etc. but texts in this area presume skills in this area often leaving students adrift. Statistics in Health Administration Kept Simple covers essential fundamentals in a user-friendly way with a strong emphasis on practical applica
Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN: 9780763745561
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 394
Book Description
There is a vast need for statistical analysis and applications in health care administration. However, students typically have weak quantitative skills. Yet students typically come armed with weak quantitative skills and a poor understanding of statistics. Statistics are a key element of many health administration courses - financial management, quantitative methods etc. but texts in this area presume skills in this area often leaving students adrift. Statistics in Health Administration Kept Simple covers essential fundamentals in a user-friendly way with a strong emphasis on practical applica