About the author
Marvin Bittinger has been teaching math at the university level for more than thirty-eight years. Since 1968, he has been employedat Indiana University Purdue UniversityIndianapolis, and is now professor emeritus of mathematics education. Professor Bittinger has authoredover 190 publications on topics ranging from basic mathematics to algebra and trigonometry to applied calculus. He received his BA in mathematics from Manchester College and his PhD in mathematics education from Purdue University. Special honors include Distinguished Visiting Professor at the United States Air Force Academy and his election to the Manchester College Board of Trustees from 1992 to 1999. His hobbies include hiking in Utah, baseball, golf, and bowling. Professor Bittinger has also had the privilege of speaking at many mathematics conventions, most recentlygiving a lecture entitled "Baseball and Mathematics." In addition, he also has an interest in philosophy and theology, in particular, apologetics. Professor Bittinger currently lives in Carmel, Indiana with his wife, Elaine. He has two grown and married sons, Lowell and Chris, and four granddaughters. Judy Beecher has an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Indiana University and a graduate degree in mathematics from Purdue University. She has taught at both the high school and college levels with many years of developmental math and precalculus teaching experience at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. In addition to her career in textbook publishing, she spends time traveling, enjoying her grandchildren, and promoting charity projects for a children's camp. David Ellenbogen has taught math at the college level fortwenty-two years, spending most of that time in the Massachusetts and Vermont community college systems, where he has served on both curriculum and developmental math committees. He has also taught at St. Michael's College and The University of Vermont.Professor Ellenbogen has been active in the Mathematical Associationof Two Year Colleges since 1985, having served on its Developmental Mathematics Committee and as a delegate, and has been a member of the Mathematical Association of America since 1979. He has authored dozens of publications on topics ranging from prealgebra to calculus and has delivered lectures at numerous conferences on the use of language in mathematics. Professor Ellenbogen received his BA in mathematics from Bates College and his MA in communitycollege mathematicseducation from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst. A co-founderof the Colchester Vermont Recycling Program, Professor Ellenbogen has adeep love for the environment and the outdoors, especially in his home state of Vermont. In his spare time, he enjoys playingkeyboard in the band Soularium, volunteeringas a community mentor, hiking, biking, and skiing. He has two sons, Monroe and Zack. Judy Penna received her undergraduate degree in mathematicsfrom Kansas State University and her graduate degree in mathematicsfrom the University of Illinois. Since then, she has taught at Indiana University PurdueUniversity Indianapolis and at Butler University, and continues to focus on writing quality textbooks for undergraduate mathematics students. In her free time she likes to travel, read, knit, and spend time with her children."
