The oBJectivc of this book is to extend the basic concepts of

arithmetic to tile study of algebra. We will use many of the sym-

bols used in arithmetic and introduce some new ones. The

properties of the basic operations of arithmetic apply also to the

basic operations of algebra. We will generalize these openltions

and introduce new operations as we proceed with the study of

algebra. We will begin by studying the symbols and operations

used with natural numbers and integers. These operations will

then be extended to algebra in Chapter 2. We will begin by

studying the natural numbers and operations on them. We will

see later in this chapter that the same symbols and operations

apply to the integers. In Chapter 2 we will extend the use of

these symbols and operations to algebraic expressions. The

ability to perform operations with literal numbers will enable

us to solve some problems which could not odaerwise be solved

and to find solutions to other problems more easily.