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Before My First Lecture

A summary of the basic mathematical concepts and properties that are typically covered in secondary education.

This poster serves as a quick-reference bridge between secondary school mathematics and introductory statistics. It distils the foundational concepts a student is expected to be comfortable with before stepping into a first statistics lecture.

Topics Covered

Sets & Logic

  • Set notation, union, intersection, complement
  • Basic propositional logic and quantifiers

Algebra

  • Exponents and logarithm rules
  • Summation notation (Σ) and its properties
  • Factorials and combinatorics

Functions

  • Domain, range, and function composition
  • Monotonicity, inverses
  • Common functions: polynomial, exponential, logarithmic

Calculus Essentials

  • Limits and continuity
  • Derivatives: rules and common forms
  • Integrals: definite and indefinite, key techniques

Probability Foundations

  • Sample space, events, probability axioms
  • Conditional probability and independence
  • Combinatorial counting