An in-depth survey of some of the most readily applicable essentials of modern mathematics, this concise volume is geared toward undergraduates of all backgrounds as well as future math majors. By focusing on relatively few fundamental concepts, the text delves deeply enough into each subject to challenge students and to offer practical applications.The opening chapter introduces the program of study and discusses how numbers developed. Subsequent chapters explore the natural numbers; sets, variables, and statement forms; mappings and operations; groups; relations and partitions; integers; and rational and real numbers. Prerequisites include high school courses in elementary algebra and plane geometry.