David Poole is Professor of Mathematics at Trent University, where he has been a faculty member since 1984. Dr. Poole has won numerous teaching awards: Trent University's Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching (the university's top teaching award), three merit awards for teaching excellence, a 2002 Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award (the top university teaching award in the province), a 2003 3M Teaching Fellowship (the top university teaching award in Canada, sponsored by 3M Canada Ltd.), a 2007 Leadership in Faculty Teaching Award from the province of Ontario, and the Canadian Mathematical Society's 2009 Excellence in Teaching Award. From 2002-2007, Dr. Poole was Trent University's Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning). His research interests include discrete mathematics, ring theory, and mathematics education. He received his B.Sc. from Acadia University in 1976 before earning his M.Sc. (1977) and Ph.D. (1984) from McMaster University. When he is not doing mathematics, David Poole enjoys hiking and cooking, and he is an avid film buff.

David Poole's innovative book prepares students to make the transition from the computational aspects of the course to the theoretical by emphasizing vectors and geometric intuition from the start. Designed for a one- or two-semester introductory course and written in simple, "mathematical English" the book presents interesting examples before abstraction. This immediately follows up theoretical discussion with further examples and a variety of applications drawn from a number of disciplines, which reinforc