"The Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data" by J. Aitchison provides a clear and systematic account of statistical methods designed to meet the special needs of the compositional data analyst, whether the field is archaeology, environmental science, psychology or ornithology. "All along Aitchison motivates his mathematics by showing how it can answer the real questions of scientists..."
The book has just been brought back into print by The Blackburn Press, with new material by the author that details developments in the field since the book's first publication in 1986, as well as the recent literature. Using a number of practical examples from different disciplines and examining the difficulties inherent in the inappropriate standard methods, the author argues that any successful statistical methodology must be based on the simple perception that only the relative magnitudes of the components of a composition matter, not their absolute values. "Mathematical Reviews" called the book "the definitive work in its area and... likely to be the standard reference for decades to come." For more information, see http://www.blackburnpress.com/stanofcoda.html . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
