The two-volume set on Arithmetic and Algebra, of which this book forms the second part, aims to help middle school and high school students journey into a world of pattern, power and beauty revealed through mathematics. In the first book titled Arithmetic and Algebra: Numbers and the Beginnings of Algebra, algebra was introduced with the help of the number system. With this base, wonderful and interesting facts about numbers were uncovered and proved. Continuing this study in topics ranging from basic number theory to understanding data through pictorial means—a vitally important but generally ignored topic—to a study of triangular numbers, the visual and the symbolic are combined in a beautiful blend to enrich learners’ lives with new perceptions on mathematics. This book can be used by teachers who wish to take their students to a deeper level of the subject as well as by those who have a general interest in the subject.

This book, under the MPOWER series of books on arithmetic, algebra and geometry, is a part of the Little Mathematical Treasures series of the Ramanujan Mathematical Society containing expository material not generally included in standard school or college texts.

Shailesh Shirali is the Head of the Community Mathematics Centre housed in Rishi Valley School (Andhra Pradesh). He has been deeply involved in the field of mathematics education for three decades, and has been closely associated with the Math Olympiad movement in India.