Mulaik offers a textbook for a graduate first-semester course in advanced correlational methods for students of psychology, sociology, education, and other social sciences. He explains the underpinnings of the standard equations and procedures that constitute factor analysis as it is used to study human abilities or personality. The journey is mathematical, he warns, but only about the level of a sound course in algebra and differential calculus--and even physics majors can understand those. After describing the mathematics for factor analysis in general, he looks at specific areas such as composite variables and linear transformation, multivariate normal distribution, factor rotation, and factorial invariance. The first edition was published in 1972, and the biggest change here seems to be the notation. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)