Kuznetsov's book ''Interval Statistical Models''
SIPTA has received the permission to make freely available Vladimir Petrovich Kuznetsov’s book ‘‘Interval Statistical Models’’. We are grateful to Igor Petrovich Kuznetsov and Evgeni Vladimirovich Kuznetsov for giving their authorization as legal owners of the copyright of this book, and to Igor Kozine and Enrique Miranda for their help in making this possible.
You can download the whole book (in Russian) as a single pdf file, or in different parts:
An English translation of the contents is available here.
Collective translation project
Unfortunately, Kuznetsov’s book is currently only available in Russian. A project to enable a collective translation of the book has been set up under the umbrella of SIPTA, initiated by Enrique Miranda and Erik Quaeghebeur. The current state is updated regularly. The end goal is a publishable translation, but the effort may prove useful long before that goal is reached.
The project is housed on GitHub, as a (currently) private organization. SIPTA members interested in just having a look or participating should send their GitHub user name to Erik Quaeghebeur. They will then be given access and, in case you express an interest to participate, follow-up steps will be initiated. In case you want to participate, but strongly prefer not to go through GitHub, or if you already know in which way you prefer to contribute, please say how in your mail. People that know Russian are obviously very valuable as translators or translation-correctors. However, many tasks do not require knowing Russian (beyond Google translate). Individuals’ contributions will be tracked, so that everyone involved can be given due credit.
A commentary on Kuznetsov’s book ‘‘Interval Statistical Models’’ by Igor Kozine
Remarkably, in 1991 two books were published on the same subject. One was ‘Statistical Reasoning with Imprecise Probabilities’ by P. Walley, the other was ‘Interval Statistical Models’ by V. Kuznetsov (in Russian). A few years later it was established that the two books describe the same reasoning and are complementary to each other. The axioms laid down to the foundation and the main constructive tool of the theory, natural extension, are identical in both Walley’s and Kuznetsov’s exposition. The authors had never collaborated but came to the same theory independently and at about the same time.
The three decades have passed from the time when the text by Kuznetsov was published and until now the rich arsenal of fundamental ideas and models have not been accessible to the wide audience.
The text, on the one hand, is very mathematical and sets out the basics of the theory and a numerous number of interval statistical models. On the other hand, the author brings soul to the models and complex concepts, hence the text appears animated. The reader comes to comprehend that the author adores the subject; he cherishes it and wants the reader to like it as well. Abstract mathematical derivations are often preceded by subtle observations from life to support the need for a theorem or another formal statement.
I have the privilege of being able to understand the language in which the book is written (not necessarily all the models and formal derivations) and wish that one day the book was translated and its content becomes accessible to anyone interested from the community of imprecise probabilities.
There are quite a number of books that describe different approaches to reasoning about uncertainty. But there are a very few that serve as a fundamental and inspiring source for many branches of statistical reasoning and their applications. And there are fewer that can compete with the present work when it comes to finding an operational approach to reasoning about uncertainty.
Igor Kozine
Senior researcher
Research Unit for Maritime Health and Technology
Department of Public Health
Faculty of Health Sciences
19/22/2022