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The support Course for Elementary Statistics textbook’s goal is to provide students who are either currently enrolled in the elementary statistics class or will soon be taking the course with the mathematics that they need to succeed. It takes a minimalist approach in that any mathematical concept or application that is not specifically used in the elementary statistics course is not covered in this book.

Before the writing of the book began, a survey was given to dozens of statistics instructors asking them what mathematics their students must know in order to succeed in their course. The book was then written to include every mathematical concept that was included in the responses. Most of the concepts, such as the slope-intercept form of the equation of a line, were universally requested to be included, while others, such as factorials, were included in some of the statistics courses. It was decided that all requested concepts would be included, since it is easier to skip a section or create a remixed version that does not include that section than it is to add a section that is not in the textbook.

Each section begins with a brief explanation of the topics that it focusses on and gives a simple example. Next, comes an example of how the mathematics will be used in an actual elementary statistics problem. The application uses statistical vocabulary and variables, such as “confidence interval” and “µ” in such a way that the understanding of the statistical words and variables are necessary to solve the problem. The idea is that as the student that goes through the book will subliminally become used to what they will be seeing in the statistics course. Each section concludes with an exercise for the students to try and two videos that go through a mathematical example and an application.