An up-to-date account of algebraic statistics and information geometry, which also explores the emerging connections between these two disciplines.

A decade after the publication of Contemporary Mathematics Vol. 287, the present volume demonstrates the consolidation of important areas, such as algebraic statistics, computational commutative algebra, and deeper aspects of graphical models. --

The 23 papers report recent developments in using the technique to help clarify the relationship between phenomena and data in a number of natural and social sciences. Among the topics are a coordinate-free approach to multivariate exponential families, some rank-based hypothesis tests for covariance structure and conditional independence, deconvolution density estimation on compact Lie groups, random walks on regular languages and algebraic systems of generating functions, and the extendibility of statistical models. There is no index. c. Book News Inc.

Algebraic statistics uses tools from algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, combinatorics, and their computational sides to address problems in statistics and its applications. The starting point for this connection is the observation that many statistical models are semialgebraic sets. The algebra/statistics connection is now over twenty years old, and this book presents the first broad introductory treatment of the subject. Along with background material in probability, algebra, and statistics, this book covers a range of topics in algebraic statistics including algebraic exponential families, likelihood inference, Fisher's exact test, bounds on entries of contingency tables, design of experiments, identifiability of hidden variable models, phylogenetic models, and model selection. With numerous examples, references, and over 150 exercises, this book is suitable for both classroom use and independent study.

This book, first published in 2005, offers an introduction to the application of algebraic statistics to computational biology.

How does an algebraic geometer studying secant varieties further the understanding of hypothesis tests in statistics? Why would a statistician working on factor analysis raise open problems about determinantal varieties? Connections of this type are at the heart of the new field of "algebraic statistics". In this field, mathematicians and statisticians come together to solve statistical inference problems using concepts from algebraic geometry as well as related computational and combinatorial techniques. The goal of these lectures is to introduce newcomers from the different camps to algebraic statistics. The introduction will be centered around the following three observations: many important statistical models correspond to algebraic or semi-algebraic sets of parameters; the geometry of these parameter spaces determines the behaviour of widely used statistical inference procedures; computational algebraic geometry can be used to study parameter spaces and other features of statistical models.

This 4-part treatment begins with algebra and analytic geometry and proceeds to an exploration of the calculus of algebraic functions and transcendental functions and applications. 1985 edition. Includes 310 figures and 18 tables.