Birkhauser Boston, Inc., will publish a series of carefully selected
mono- graphs in the area of mathematical modeling to present serious
applications of mathematics for both the undergraduate and the
professional audience. Some of the monographs to be selected and
published will appeal more to the professional mathematician and user of
mathematics, serving to familiarize the user with new models and new
methods. Some, like the present monograph, will stress the educational
aspect and will appeal more to a student audience, either as a textbook
or as additional reading. We feel that this first volume in the series
may in itself serve as a model for our program. Samuel Goldberg attaches
a high priority to teaching stu- dents the art of modeling, that is, to
use his words, the art of constructing useful mathematical models of
real-world phenomena. We concur. It is our strong conviction as editors
that the connection between the actual problems and their mathematical
models must be factually plausible, if not actually real. As this first
volume in the new series goes to press, we invite its readers to share
with us both their criticisms and their constructive suggestions.