Rubinstein is the pioneer of the well-known score function and cross-entropy methods.

Accessible to a broad audience of engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians and in general anyone, theorist and practitioner, who is interested in smart simulation, fast optimization, learning algorithms, and image processing.

This book is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the cross-entropy (CE) method. The CE method started life around 1997 when the first author proposed an adaptive algorithm for rare-event simulation using a cross-entropy minimization technique. It was soon realized that the underlying ideas had a much wider range of application than just in rare-event simulation; they could be readily adapted to tackle quite general combinatorial and multi-extremal optimization problems, including many problems associated with the field of learning algorithms and neural computation. The book is based on an advanced undergraduate course on the CE method, given at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) for the last three years. It is aimed at a broad audience of engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians and in general anyone, theorist or practitioner, who is interested in smart simulation, fast optimization, learning algorithms, image processing, etc. Our aim was to write a book on the CE method which was accessible to advanced undergraduate students and engineers who simply want to apply the CE method in their work, while at the same time accentu ating the unifying and novel mathematical ideas behind the CE method, so as to stimulate further research at a postgraduate level."

This textbook on statistical modeling and statistical inference will assist advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Statistical Modeling and Computation provides a unique introduction to modern Statistics from both classical and Bayesian perspectives. It also offers an integrated treatment of Mathematical Statistics and modern statistical computation, emphasizing statistical modeling, computational techniques, and applications. Each of the three parts will cover topics essential to university courses. Part I covers the fundamentals of probability theory. In Part II, the authors introduce a wide variety of classical models that include, among others, linear regression and ANOVA models. In Part III, the authors address the statistical analysis and computation of various advanced models, such as generalized linear, state-space and Gaussian models. Particular attention is paid to fast Monte Carlo techniques for Bayesian inference on these models. Throughout the book the authors include a large number of illustrative examples and solved problems. The book also features a section with solutions, an appendix that serves as a MATLAB primer, and a mathematical supplement.