ABSTRACT
Many students in the behavioral sciences approach their first course in statistics wishing they had majored in some other discipline—any other discipline not requiring them to study statistics. They are convinced that their “aptitude for math” is low, and they are prepared to find statistics difficult. Statistics is difficult for many students but not, as a rule, because they have a low aptitude for mathematics. Students who have little or no college work in mathematics suffer from a serious misconception about the rate at which they should be able to read mathematical material. Accustomed to reading a 50-page assignment for other courses in two or three hours, they discover that they have spent that much time before they understand six pages of statistics. When this happens, they become absolutely convinced that they have no aptitude for mathematics and, in despair, they drop statistics and change their majors! If you have had similar thoughts, the following paragraphs are especially for you.
