The fifth edition of Prem S. Mann’s Introductory Statistics using Technology covers all the basic topics found in an introductory statistics course. It starts with standard graphical and numerical summaries for one variable, then moves to probability and random variables, and ends with inference procedures including one-way analysis of variance, simple linear regression, and chi-square goodness-of-fit and independence tests. There is a chapter on nonparametric inference methods, but, as in lots of new and revised editions these days, this chapter is only available by download off of the book’s web site. This text is accessible to a wide range of students and a calculus background is not needed.
The teaching options for this book are flexible because chapters tend to be broken into small sections. The exercises provided for most sections were divided into conceptual and procedural problems and application problems. Each chapter contains self-review problems with answers given in the back of the text. There are also mini-projects for each chapter which seem to entail either analysis of a larger set of data or an “activity” project which makes students collect data or search for and interpret articles which use statistics.
There are plenty of examples discussed in each chapter which are solved first by hand and then by technology, when possible. The three technologies used are a TI-83 calculator, MINITAB, and Excel using the KADDSTAT plug-in. The explanation accompanying each use of technology (e.g. how to calculate descriptive statistics or draw a histogram) is very thorough and would definitely help students using either of the three technology options. One drawback is that this approach can lead to a very lengthy example and busy pages. In some sections it was hard to determine when the example ended and the discussion picked up again.
My overall impression of Introductory Statistics using Technology was favorable. It presents most concepts in a concise manner while solving examples which use the concepts in detail. The text is especially suited for an instructor looking to incorporate any of the three technologies into their introductory class.
Katherine St. Clair is Assistant Professor of Statistics at Colby College.