This volume presents students with problems and exercises designed to illuminate the properties of functions and graphs. The 1st part of the book employs simple functions to analyze the fundamental methods of constructing graphs. The 2nd half deals with more complicated and refined questions concerning linear functions, quadratic trinomials, linear fractional functions, power functions, and rational functions.1969 edition.
Israel Moiseevich Gelfand, also written Israïl Moyseyovich Gel'fand, or Izrail M. Gelfand (Yiddish: ישראל געלפֿאַנד, Russian: Израиль Моисеевич Гельфанд; 2 September [O.S. 20 August] 1913 – 5 October 2009) was a prominent Soviet mathematician. He made significant contributions to many branches of mathematics, including group theory, representation theory and functional analysis. The recipient of many awards, including the Order of Lenin and the Wolf Prize, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor at Moscow State University and, after immigrating to the United States shortly before his 76th birthday, at Rutgers University.
This was my favorite of Gelfand's four pre-calculus books. It required a very close reading, multiple close readings. He introduced a variety of concepts and all of them were accessible.