ABSTRACT
The purpose of this opening chapter is to supplement the reader's knowledge of elementary mathematical analysis, probability theory, and statistics, which the reader is assumed to have at his or her disposal. This chapter is intended to outline the foundational components and definitions as treated in subsequent chapters. The introductory literature, including various foundational textbooks in the fields, can be easily found to complete this chapter material in details. In this chapter we also present several important comments regarding the implementation of mathematical constructs in the proofs of the statistical theorems that will provide the reader with a rigorous understanding of certain fundamental concepts.
In our book we primarily deal with certain methodological and practical tools of biostatistics. Before introducing powerful statistical and biostatistical methods it is necessary to outline some important fundamental concepts such as mathematical limits, random variables, distribution functions, integration, convergence, complex variables and examples of statistical software in the following sections.
