Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control. by Walter A. Shewhart; W.Edwards DemingReview by: Joseph ManueleJournal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 35, No. 210, Part 1 (Jun., 1940), pp. 426-427Published by: American Statistical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2278733 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 22:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Statistical Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journalof the American Statistical Association.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:32:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

426 AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION-

storing prosperity unless the business mechanism of the country is in good working order. There is one condition under which a federal spending pro- gram might contribute to bring about a lasting business recovery. That condition is the creation by the Federal Government of cooperative relations between itself and private enterprise that will create confidence in the pros- pects for future profits." The psychological considerations pertaining to the questions are of course the crucial considerations determining the effectiveness of a pump priming program.

J. PHILIP WERNETTE Graduate School of Business Administration Harvard University

Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control, by Walter A. Shew- hart with the editorial assistance of W. Edwards Deming. Washington, D. C.: Department of Agriculture Graduate School. 1939. ix, 155 pp.

Dr. Shewhart has made a distinct contribution to the field of applied mathematical statistics. This contribution can be appreciated best by those who are acquainted with his work. His newest book, "Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control" enhances this contribution.

The book is not intended for beginners. It is written for graduate students of the subject and is very thought provoking and instructive. The reader must be well versed in the particular branch of statistics in which Dr. Shew- hart is a leader if he is to get the most out of the book. However, the book is very readable and will repay study by the beginner if for no other reason than to learn not to draw too hasty conclusions from too meager data.

The author starts out by stating that there must be three steps in any quality control program-1) specification, 2) production, 3) and inspection. The rest of the book deals with how samples may be drawn from a universe and what we can expect to learn about the universe from observation of the samples. The author spends considerable time impressing upon the reader the fact that he can never be sure he is drawing the samples at random. This is because of the ever present assignable causes which creep into any chance cause system. This is true in spite of the fact that observations are made under identical conditions. In this respect the author does not hesitate to question the methods used by our most careful observers, our research workers, in arriving at their conclusions. He makes the statement, by im- plication, that the values of physical constants, such as "g"' (gravitational constant) should not be considered as accurate unless observations are shown to be made under conditions of statistical control. On page 65 he says, "engineering and research data are not to be regarded differently with respect to the assumption of statistical control."

All this does not necessarily mean that the book is in any way controver- sial. Quite to the contrary, it offers sound advice to the mature statistician. It warns him of pitfalls to be avoided in drawing conclusions from statistical

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:32:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

*BOOK REVIEWS 427

calculations and gives hints on how to avoid them. However, the book con- tains no formulae and the reader must bring his own solution to his problem if he finds that he has been on the wrong track. In this respect the book is not a text. Although problems are used to illustrate the subject matter, the reader should be prepared to follow the author in his conclusions, because no detailed solutions are given. It is not a book to be read in an evening; rather, it is one to be enjoyed during a lifetime, and it will be a valuable addition to the library of any statistician.

The author stresses the importance of statistical control in order to make the best and most economical use of materials. From this point of view the industrialist might do well to study the book carefully. He emphasizes the point that assignable causes are, for the most part, those that come and go in erratic fashion. While the manufacturing engineer readily admits the erratic part, he has not been willing to trust statistics as an indicatorof assignable causes. To him especially we recommend Dr. Shewhart's Sta- tistical Method.

JOSEPH MANUELE

Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co.

Mathematical Analysis for Economists, by R. G. D. Allen. New York and London: The Macmillan Company. London School of Economics and Political Science, Studies in Statistics and Scientific Method, No. 3. 1938. xv, 548 pp. $9.00.

This book is an important contribution to the materials for the teaching of economics.

In a single volume the author leads us from the basic ideas of numbers and variables, through the theory of functions with special attention to their derivatives and the conditions for maximum and minimum values, to the sophisticated concepts of the calculus of variations. In the process, most of the methods of mathematical analysis necessary for economic theory are de- veloped. The illustrations of the mathematical treatment of economic prob- lems are fairly comprehensive and afford a good introduction to recent studies in this field. Each chapter is supplemented by a series of exercises, many of them economic in character.

Despite its extensive range of subject matter, Mathematical Analysis for Economists is a remarkably readable book. The attention to detail is metic- ulous, but, at the same time, the exposition is interesting and lucid. Al- though so broad a survey cannot treat each subject exhaustively, it is sur- prising to find how adequately the individual topics are discussed. As a necessary consequence, however, ideas are presented so rapidly that most readers will require frequent pauses and considerable review and practice on the exercises.

It is easy to suggest additions to such a treatise, much of whose merit depends on the excision of the irrelevant. Nonetheless, I wish the author had

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.49 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 22:32:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions