ABSTRACT
Ideally, one begins a study of structural equations modeling with a mathematical background of up to a year of calculus. This is not to say that structural equations modeling requires an extensive knowledge of calculus, because calculus is used in only a few instances, such as in finding equations for estimates of parameters using a quasi-Newton algorithm or in finding formulas for polychoric correlation. These are very advanced topics, and since this text may also be used in courses for quantitative psychologists, they must be included. Those topics may be skipped over by the usual reader. But having calculus in one’s background provides sufficient exposure to working with mathematical concepts so that one will have overcome reacting to a mathematical subject such as structural equation modeling as though it were an esoteric subject comprehensible only to select initiates to its mysteries. One will have learned those subjects such as trigonometry, college algebra, matrix algebra, and analytic geometry upon which structural equation modeling draws heavily.
