The book is based on a 1924 course in statistics given by Henry A. Wallace, editor of the farm magazine, Wallaces' Farmer, at Iowa State University. The course dealt with the practical aspects of statistics, particularly correlation and regression. Wallace's notes from the course were edited and revised by George W. Snedecor, an Associate Professor in Mathematics. The book was a highly influential manual that explained the nuts-and-bolts of calculating regression models.