Thomas W. Hungerford received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has taught at the University of Washington and at Cleveland State University, and is now at St. Louis University. His research fields are algebra and mathematics education. He is the author of many notable books for undergraduate and graduate level courses. These include: ALGEBRA (Springer Verlag, Graduate Texts in Mathematics #73, 1974); ABSTRACT ALGEBRA: AN INTRODUCTION, Second Edition (Harcourt, 1997); MATHEMATICS WITH APPLICATIONS, Eighth Edition (Addison-Wesley, 2003; with M. Lial); and CONTEMPORARY PRECALCULUS: A GRAPHING APPROACH, Fourth Edition (Brooks/Cole, 2004).