Page 15 - Introduction to Statistical Pattern Recognition

Preface

This book presents an introduction to statistical pattern recogni-
tion. Pattern recognition in general covers a wide range of problems,
and it is hard to find a unified view or approach. It is applied to
engineering problems, such as character readers and waveform analy-
sis, as well as to brain modeling in biology and psychology. However,
statistical decision and estimation, which are the subjects of this book,
are regarded as fundamental to the study of pattern recognition. Statis-
tical decision and estimation are covered in various texts on mathemati-
cal statistics, statistical communication, control theory, and so on. But
obviously each field has a different need and view. So that workers in
pattern recognition need not look from one book to another, this book is
organized to provide the basics of these statistical concepts from the
viewpoint of pattern recognition.
The material of this book has been taught in a graduate course at
Purdue University and also in short courses offered in a number of
locations. Therefore, it is the author’s hope that this book will serve as a
text for introductory courses of pattern recognition as well as a refer-
ence book for the workers in the field.

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