KEY MESSAGE: Presented in a clear and concise style, theAkst/Braggseries teaches by example while expanding understanding with applications that are fully integrated throughout the text and exercise sets. Akst/Bragg's user-friendly design offers a distinctive side-by-side format that pairs each example and its solution with a corresponding practice exercise. The concise writing style keeps readers'interest and attention by presenting the mathematics with minimal distractions, and the motivating real-world applications demonstrate how integral mathematical understanding is to a variety of disciplines, careers, and everyday situations. KEY TOPICS: Whole Numbers, Fractions, Decimals, Basic Algebra: Solving Simple Equations, Ratio and Proportion, Percents, Signed Numbers, Basic Statistics, More on Algebra, Measurement and Units, Basic Geometry MARKET: For all readers interested in Basic Mathematics

Geoffrey Akst and Sadie Bragg have worked together for many years as professors of mathematics at Borough of Manhattan Community College/City University of New York.  They met as graduate students at Teachers College, Columbia University, where they were both working on degrees in the teaching of college mathematics. The emphasis on applications in their texts reflects a concern they share for helping students understand why the topics to be studied are useful.  Dr. Akst for years has begun his classes with the payoff question:­ why is this material worth learning?  A native New Yorker, he enjoys surfing the Web, listening to good music, and traveling to exciting places.  Dr. Bragg, who began her career in math education as a high school geometry teacher, credits her teachers with inspiring her love for mathematics and an appreciation of its utility.  A transplanted Virginian, she spends her time with her family and her beautiful granddaughter, Maya.