Statistics needs no introduction. Calculus by contrast deals with continuous changes in well-defined quantities, which are not like anything a sociologist encou

Statistics needs no introduction. Calculus by contrast deals with continuous changes in well-defined quantities, which are not like anything a sociologist encounters. Calculus comprises the foundation of statistics. Without calculus you can learn to apply statistical experiments, but you can’t really understand what’s going on. That makes for brittle insight. Just because the set of all humans is strictly finite doesn’t mean the underlying continuity in statistical theory ceases to exist. A two semester sequence of single and multivariable calculus is really not a lot to ask in return for delivering a robust understanding of statistics. It’s not like demanding knowledge of analysis, topology, and measure theory before learning rigorous probability theory.