~ eaching elementary statistics is particularly challenging because the stu-<br > dents are heterogenous in aptitude， preparation， and motivation. At one ex-<br > treme are the students with little or no background in mathematics who are<br > taking statistics only because it is a required course and who have no postgraduate<br > education plans or no desire to take other statistics courses. At the other extreme<br > are the students who are well prepared in mathematics， who recognize the need for<br > statistics， and who plan to enter a career where statistics are used every day. The<br > challenge， then， is to provide a meaningful learning experience in the same class-<br > room for such a diverse collection of students.<br > The major objective of Elementary Statistics: A Problem-Solving Approach is<br > to provide a connected， orderly presentation of statistics so that all students， par-<br > ticularly those who have little mathematical background and are afraid of statistics<br > or who are convinced that they cannot do them， will be successful. Each of the 54<br > Problems in the text represents a major concept or commonly used statistical pro-<br > cedure. Students with little mathematical background can easily follow them in a<br > step-by-step fashion. Students can concentrate on learning how to do one problem<br > at a time， achieving success through the attainment of intermediate goals instead<br > of having to confront a monolithic and seemingly insuperable obstacle. For those<br > students with greater motivation and superior preparation， supplementary problems<br > and mathematical proofs are provided to enrich their learning experiences and to<br > present them with challenges commensurate with their capacities.<br > Although the emphasis in this text is on the application of statistical techniques<br > in the social and behavioral sciences， it is important to note that the same statistical<br > problems occur in engineering， business， biology， and many other disciplines. The<br > basic concepts of statistics and inferential methods apply in all fields.<br >;TRUCTOR The Problem-Solving Approach The material in this book has been organized<br > around 54 specific problems in statistics--statistical procedures that are commonly<br >Lres of encountered in practice. These 54 problems have been broken down into 50 "number<br >Statistics series" problems and 4 "letter series" problems. The 50 number series problems are<br > to be regarded as the primary， most essential problems to be covered. The 4 letter<br > series problems are supplementary problems that are less essential either because<br >