Note to the Student:

Each of the chapters in this manual except the first and the last two are divided into four parts:

The Introductory Problems are intentionally placed before the Background section to encourage you to see how far you can proceed toward a solution without special instruction in the discipline in which the problem is found. The purpose here is to encourage you, the problem solver, to rely strongly upon your native intellect without any special instruction. In so-called context lean problems your native thinking ability may be all that is needed. On occasion, however, special background work to supplement your basic intelligence may be required before you will be able to proceed toward a problem solution. The section entitled Background includes, not only subject matter knowledge, but in addition knowledge of certain problem solving strategies and methods. You will gradually accumulate both subject matter knowledge and problem solving skills as your experience in problem solving deepens. Having mastered the background material you are then better prepared to return to the Introductory Problems and renew your attack on those problems. Your efforts can then be compared to the solutions presented in the Introductory Problem Solutions section. You should now be better equipped to handle the Additional Problems, problems designed to give you further experience in problems solving. Those marked with an asterisk have brief solutions given in Appendix A. Your instructor may assign as homework any of the problems in the Additional Problems section. Don't expect all of the problems presented in this manual to arise directly from everyday experience. Some are of the nature of mental "calisthenics," and as such, important to the achievement of problem solving skills in general.

If you do not already own one, you will want to purchase a pocket calculator to help you make the calculations important to the kind of problem solving found in several of the chapters. Two so-called Self Tests for Chapters II-VIII are to be found at the end of those chapters. One of these "tests" calls for familiarity with four or five of the Additional Problems. The second probes more deeply into a single aspect of the problem work or the background material for the chapter. Solutions to these tests are given in Appendix B. These are brief exercises that can be completed in about fifteen minutes or so. They serve to exemplify the kind of "open-book" in-class quiz that your instructor may wish to give over each chapter.