Review of 'Introduction to mathematical sociology' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Short, straight forward book of mathematics useful in sociology. The material is is drawn mainly from algebra and discrete mathematics like Markov chains, networks and game theory. It's very light on statistics and there is no calculus at all. Simulations are available on the publisher website.
However, the authors explain that the intended audience for the content originally (as a lecture course) were social sciences majors who had completed a basics stats course but we're otherwise lacking mathematical experience. If you do have a mathematical background the book is a quick read where you learn about some different applications of mathematics other than the same tired set of physics ones .
If you have a social sciences or humanities background the mathematics may well be challenging or intimidating. The authors, though, make the effort to convince the reader that mathematics, rather than destroying nuance and colour of human interactions, can …
Short, straight forward book of mathematics useful in sociology. The material is is drawn mainly from algebra and discrete mathematics like Markov chains, networks and game theory. It's very light on statistics and there is no calculus at all. Simulations are available on the publisher website.
However, the authors explain that the intended audience for the content originally (as a lecture course) were social sciences majors who had completed a basics stats course but we're otherwise lacking mathematical experience. If you do have a mathematical background the book is a quick read where you learn about some different applications of mathematics other than the same tired set of physics ones .
If you have a social sciences or humanities background the mathematics may well be challenging or intimidating. The authors, though, make the effort to convince the reader that mathematics, rather than destroying nuance and colour of human interactions, can be a useful tool for teasing out more understanding from what would be a complex tangle. The afterword is entitled "Resistance is futile" which is their ways of saying application if mathematics in the field will only increase.