Acknowledgements

Kai Zhang is a major contributor to the interactive practice problems and examples in the textbook. I owe Kai many thanks for making this book more interesting and functional as a teaching tool!

Strangely enough, a major acknowledgement for the production of this book should go to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being forced to teach online for the first time meant that I needed to generate scripts for my video lessons. Turns out those scripts, with minor adaptations, made for a basic textbook! Difficulties with a publisher was the other impetus to get me to take a few weeks to adapt the scripts into a text.

BC Campus offers tremendous resources for the creation and adaptation of open educational resources, and they host the textbook.

But the biggest thanks by far go to my partner Dimitris, who puts up with my grumps and slumps and cooks for me most days. May you be as fortunate as I, to meet someone who asks no more than I can give, but gives of himself freely.

Next, thanks go to all the students, past, present and future, who share with me what explanations work, inspire new approaches, and even come up with new memes for my use. Nothing spurs me on like the moments of insight that I witness in those learning these concepts, and it gives me such joy when those in my classes experience the realization that they actually enjoy learning something “math-y.”

Finally, thanks go to Tiberius, an imperial grey tabby cat, who offers comfort and routine, keeping my life on track with regular demands for food (in exchange for floofy cuddles).