Gary L. Musser is Professor Emeritus from Oregon StateUniversity. He earned both his B.S. in Mathematics Education in1961 and his M.S. in Mathematics in 1963 at the University ofMichigan and his Ph.D. in Mathematics (Radical Theory) in 1970 atthe University of Miami in Florida. He taught at the junior andsenior high, junior college and university levels for more than 30years. He spent his final 24 years teaching prospective teachers inthe Department of Mathematics at Oregon State University. While atOSU, Dr. Musser developed the mathematics component of theelementary teacher program. Soon after Professor William F. Burgerjoined the OSU Department of Mathematics in a similar capacity, thetwo of them began to write the first edition of this book.Professor Burger passed away during the preparation of the secondedition, and Professor Blake E. Peterson was hired at OSU as hisreplacement. Professor Peterson joined Professor Musser as acoauthor beginning with the fifth edition. Professor Musser has published 40 papers in many journals,including the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, Canadian Journalof Mathematics, The Mathematics Association of America Monthly,the NCTM s The Mathematics Teacher, the NCTM sThe Arithmetic Teacher, School Science and Mathematics, TheOregon Mathematics Teacher, and The Computing Teacher.In addition, he is a coauthor of two other college mathematicsbooks: College Geometry A Problem-Solving Approachwith Applications (2008) and A Mathematical View of OurWorld (2007). He also coauthored the K-8 series Mathematicsin Action. He has given more than 65 invited lectures/workshops at a variety of conferences, including NCTM and MAAconferences, and was awarded 15 federal, state, and local grants toimprove the teaching of mathematics. While Professor Musser was at OSU, he was awarded theuniversity s prestigious College of Science Carter Award forTeaching. He is currently living in sunny Las Vegas, were hecontinues to write, ponder the mysteries of the stock market, enjoyliving with his wife and his faithful yellow lab, Zoey. Blake E. Peterson is currently a Professor in theDepartment of Mathematics Education at Brigham Young University. Hewas born and raised in Logan, Utah, where he graduated from LoganHigh School. Before completing his BA in secondary mathematicseducation at Utah State University, he spent two years in Japan asa missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.After graduation, he took his new wife, Shauna, to southernCalifornia, where he taught and coached at Chino High School fortwo years. In 1988, he began graduate school at Washington StateUniversity, where he later completed a M.S. and Ph.D. in puremathematics. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Peterson was hired as a mathematicseducator in the Department of Mathematics at Oregon StateUniversity in Corvallis, Oregon, where he taught for three years.It was at OSU where he met Gary Musser. He has since moved his wifeand four children to Provo, Utah, to assume his position at BrighamYoung University where he is currently a full professor. Dr. Peterson has published papers in Rocky Mountain MathematicsJournal, The American Mathematical Monthly, The MathematicalGazette, Mathematics Magazine, The New England Mathematics Journal,School Science and Mathematics, The Journal of Mathematics TeacherEducation, and The Journal for Research in Mathematicsas well as chapters in several books. He has also published inNCTM s Mathematics Teacher, and MathematicsTeaching in the Middle School. His research interests areteacher education in Japan and productive use of studentmathematical thinking during instruction, which is the basis of anNSF grant that he and 3 of his colleagues were recently awarded. Inaddition to teaching, research, and writing, Dr. Peterson has doneconsulting for the College Board, founded the Utah Association ofMathematics Teacher Educators, and has been the chair of theeditorial panel for the Mathematics Teacher. Aside from his academic interests, Dr. Peterson enjoys spendingtime with his family, fulfilling his church responsibilities,playing basketball, mountain biking, water skiing, and working inthe yard.