This book provides a brief introduction to some common ideas in the study of probability. At the University of Minnesota, this material is included in a course on College Algebra designed to give students the basic skills to take an introductory Statistics course. The material itself is basic, and should be within the grasp of students who have successfully completed a high school Algebra I course. It comprises approximately three weeks worth of material at the college level; a typical college student would spend about 45 hours total learning this material.

These materials are used as part of an active learning course, and the interplay between in-class activities that allow students to explore and discover ideas and a more formulaic study of the necessary computations is important. Each chapter has suggestions for active learning problem-solving activities designed to develop higher-order thinking skills. The video lessons in the chapter sections address a second objective, the skill-building component of mathematics. Can you successfully carry out the calculations necessary to find answers to a variety of applications? Conceptual understanding of the material is important, and instructors are encouraged make use of activities that help students advance the computational skills developed in the video lessons.