This book is intended for a one-or two-semester introduction to statistics. The discussion is not calculus-based; the only prerequisite is high school algebra. The emphasis is on the art of statistical thinking. I believe that a course emphasizing statistical thinking about applied problems ought to be anyone`s introduction to statistics, no matter what major or year in college. Everyone should understand the usefulness of statistics in addressing real-world problems. Such an understanding would enrich the lives of all students and motivate some to further study in the theory and application of statistics. Almost all of the examples and exercises in this book are based on real data sets. In a few cases I felt forced to invent a data set to illustrate an idea, because I did not have a real example at hand. Even then I based the example on a realistic application. As a students will be more motivated to study statistics if its usefulness is immediately apparent. This will be most obvious in a book if examples and exercises illustrate the use of statistics in real investigations.

Table of Contents :
# Introduction
# Studying One Variable at a Time: Lists, Tables, and Plots
# Studying One Variable at a Time: Descriptive Statistics
# Studying Two Variables at a Time
# Studying More Than Two Variables at a Time
# Some Ideas in Probability Needed for Statistical Inference
# Finite Probability Models Based on Counting Techniques
# The Gaussian (Normal) Distributions
# Basic Ideas in Statistics
# Inferences About a Measure of Central Tendency
# Inferences About Two Measures of Central Tendency
# Comparing Several Means: Single-Factor And Randomized Block Experiments
# Two-Factor Experiments: Balanced, Completely Randomized, Factorial Designs
# Inferences About Variances
# Correlation, Regression, and the Method of Least Squares
# Inferences About Qualitative (or Categorical) Variables