About our authors
When John Hornsby enrolled as an undergraduate at Louisiana State University, he was uncertain whether he wanted to study mathematics, education or journalism. His ultimate decision was to become a teacher, but after 25 years of teaching at the high school and university levels and 15 years of writing mathematics textbooks, all 3 of his goals have been realized; his love for teaching and for mathematics is evident in his passion for working with students and fellow teachers as well. His specific professional interests are recreational mathematics, mathematics history and incorporating graphing calculators into the curriculum. John's personal life is busy as he devotes time to his family (wife Gwen, and sons Chris, Jack, and Josh). He has been a rabid baseball fan all of his life. John's other hobbies include numismatics (the study of coins) and record collecting. He loves the music of the 1960s and has an extensive collection of the recorded works of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
The late Marge Lial was always interested in math; it was her favorite subject in the first grade! Marge's intense desire to educate both her students and herself inspired the writing of numerous best-selling textbooks. Marge, who received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from California State University at Sacramento, was most recently affiliated with American River College. An avid reader and traveler, her travel experiences often found their way into her books as applications, exercise sets, and feature sets. She was particularly interested in archeology, and trips to various digs and ruin sites produced fascinating problems for her textbooks, involving such topics as the building of Mayan pyramids and the acoustics of ancient ball courts in the Yucatan.
Gary Rockswold has been teaching mathematics for 33 years at all levels from seventh grade to graduate school, including junior high and high school students, talented youth, vocational, undergraduate and graduate students, and adult education classes. Now retired, he most recently served as professor of mathematics at Minnesota State University - Mankato. He graduated with majors in mathematics and physics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Iowa State University. He has an interdisciplinary background and has also taught physical science, astronomy and computer science. Outside of mathematics, he enjoys spending time with his lovely wife and 2 children.
