About the Author: Gary Rockswold has taught mathematics, computer science, and physical science at a wide variety of levels, including high school, undergraduate, and graduate students for over 30 years. He received his bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College and his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Iowa State University. He has been a principal investigator of parallel computing at the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute and is an emeritus professor of mathematics at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is an author and has published numerous mathematics textbooks for Pearson Education at both the developmental and collegiate levels. His motivation for writing is to make mathematics more inclusive for a greater number of students by presenting mathematics in a contextual, meaningful way.