About our authors

The late Marge Lial was always interested in math; it was her favorite subject in the first grade! Marge's intense desire to educate both her students and herself has inspired the writing of numerous best-selling textbooks. Marge, who received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from California State University at Sacramento, was affiliated with American River College. An avid reader and traveler, her travel experiences often found their way into her books as applications, exercise sets, and feature sets. Her interest in archeology led to trips to various digs and ruin sites, producing some fascinating problems for her textbooks involving such topics as the building of Mayan pyramids and the acoustics of ancient ball courts in the Yucatan.

When John Hornsby enrolled as an undergraduate at Louisiana State University, he was uncertain whether he wanted to study mathematics education or journalism. His ultimate decision was to become a teacher, but after 25 years of teaching at the high school and university levels and 15 years of writing mathematics textbooks, both of his goals have been realized. His love for both teaching and for mathematics is evident in his passion for working with students and fellow teachers as well. His specific professional interests are recreational mathematics, mathematics history, and incorporating graphing calculators into the curriculum. John's personal life is busy as he devotes time to his family (wife Gwen, and sons Chris, Jack, and Josh), and has been an avid baseball fan all of his life. John's other hobbies include numismatics (the study of coins) and record collecting. He loves the music of the 1960s and has an extensive collection of the recorded works of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

David Schneider, who is known widely for his tutorial software, holds a BA degree from Oberlin College and a PhD from MIT. He is currently an emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. He has authored 8 widely used math texts, 14 highly acclaimed computer books, and 3 widely used mathematical software packages. He has also produced instructional videotapes at both the University of Maryland and the BBC.

Callie Daniels has always had a passion for learning mathematics and brings that passion into the classroom with her students. She attended the University of the Ozarks where she earned a bachelor's degree in Secondary Mathematics Education. She has two master's degrees: one in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Missouri - Rolla, the second in Adult Education from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Her professional interests include improving success in the community college mathematics sequence, using technology to enhance students' understanding of mathematics, and creating materials that support classroom teaching and student understanding. She is able to pursue these interests as a contributor on the Lial Developmental Math series, and a co-author on the Precalculus series.