Acknowledgments

My thanks go first to the authors of the texts included in this anthology, for writing the pieces and for collaborating during the preparation and production phases, including (in some cases) by offering electronic files of the figures.

Once again I consulted closely with the in-house editor at Princeton, Vickie Kearn, whose overall guidance made it easier for me to decide on the best course to proceed at a few difficult junctures. Stefani Wexler obtained many reprint permissions and oversaw other matters related to copyright. Nathan Carr did an excellent job as production editor, for this and for the previous volume in the series—while Paula Berard, the copyeditor, spotted more typos in a few days than I could have done in several weeks. Thank you to all.

Reaching the final selection of texts was a daunting task. Gerald Al- exanderson, Fernando Gouvea, Ivars Petersen, and John Stillwell helped me to choose by conveying their preferences on texts initially belonging to a much larger pool. I especially appreciate Fernando Gouvea's opinionated comments on all the pieces I advanced. I thank all my readers and ask for their understanding wherever I overrode their suggestions. The responsibility for the shortcomings in the final content of the book is entirely mine.

At Cornell University I benefited from a working environment conducive to my preoccupation with continuing this series. Thanks to David W Henderson for a very flexible research schedule. Many thanks to Maria Terrell for assigning me an adequate teaching load. Thanks to Ravi Ramakrishna and Dan Barbasch for co-opting me into supplementary activities—as well as to Michelle Klinger and Stanley Seltzer for offering me additional teaching opportunities. Also thanks to the staff at the Cornell University Library, whose services I used intensively every day.

My friend Mihai Bailesteanu saved me from much trouble whenever my computers crashed over the past few years by recovering all my files intact—with sure hand and never-diminished wit.

Thanks to my daughter Ioana for being no less (and certainly no more!) patient with our library escapades than a child her age is expected to be. She showed all the understanding I needed when I carried books and piles of articles, even to beaches and on camping trips.

Georg Cantor wrote that the essence of mathematics lies in its freedom. Over the years, in wildly contrasting circumstances, I probed this statement and its opposites, trying to sort out their meanings. My high school mathematics teacher, Ioan Candrea, offered me the first such opportunities, with unparalleled trust, with insight, and with wisdom. I owe him the humble confidence that I can continue in the spirit of his good deeds, by treating my own students in kind. Foremost in his generosity toward me, during four crucial years of my life he often let me teach mathematics to my classmates, at a time when I was supposed to be only taught. I dedicate this volume to his memory.