Equations and Inequalities : Elementary Problems and Theorems in Algebra and Number Theory (Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2000)

This book is intended as a text for a problem-solving course at the first­ or second-year university level, as a text for enrichment classes for talented high-school students, or for mathematics competition training.

It can also be used as a source of supplementary material for any course dealing with algebraic equations or inequalities, or to supplement a standard elementary number theory course.

There are already many excellent books on the market that can be used for a problem-solving course.

However, some are merely collections of prob­ lems from a variety of fields and lack cohesion.

Others present problems according to topic, but provide little or no theoretical background.

Most problem books have a limited number of rather challenging problems.

While these problems tend to be quite beautiful, they can appear forbidding and discouraging to a beginning student, even with well-motivated and carefully written solutions.

As a consequence, students may decide that problem solving is only for the few high performers in their class, and abandon this important part of their mathematical, and indeed overall, education.