I would appreciate suggestions for text books or reference books on exponential decay functions, probability distribution functions, and the like. I should probably pick up one or two general introductory books on probability and statistics, too.
I am working on a little special interest project and I need some help with my very fuzzy memory of probability distribution functions. I am trying to explore whether memory fades exponentially in a way that is similar to radioactive isotopes decaying, batteries discharging, or light bulbs burning out. I want to write some software to gather data and test these ideas, but I need help with the math. I want to fit the appropriate function to the test data and then use that function to predict future data points. I studied many of these concepts in school back in the 60s (BS in computer science with a physics minor), but I have not worked with them for over 30 years. I generally understand what I want to do, but the details of the mathematics (and statistics) are not clear to me. In searching the archives, I came across one recommendation for "The Exponential Distribution Theory, Methods and Applications", Edited by: N. Balakrishnan, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. This looks to be an excellent work. Can anyone comment on it? I would also be interested in suggestions for texts dealing with computer algorithms and implementations for these functions. Would one of the Knuth books be good? Others? Thanks -- Spam sink email address, sorry . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
