Book excerpt: This accessible text is designed to help readers help themselves to excel. The content is organized into three parts: (1) A Library of Elementary Functions (Chapters 1–2), (2) Finite Mathematics (Chapters 3–9), and (3) Calculus (Chapters 10–15). The book's overall approach, refined by the authors' experience with large sections of college freshmen, addresses the challenges of learning when readers' prerequisite knowledge varies greatly. Reader-friendly features such as Matched Problems, Explore & Discuss questions, and Conceptual Insights, together with the motivating and ample applications, make this text a popular choice for today's students and instructors.