Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
I am grateful for the sabbatical time Rivier University provided so that I could produce this book. The initial design and many of the activities for this textbook were created during my Spring 2016 sabbatical, and the book was written during my year-long sabbatical in 2023-2024. In addition, I appreciate the 2024 Rivier Summer Faculty Research Grant that enabled me to recruit three Rivier University student interns to review the book. The constructive feedback I received from these student interns Sarah Frazier, Elisabeth Jacob, and Caitlyn St. Cyr exceeded my expectations. In addition, to identifying errors and dead links, they suggested rephrasings of sentences and identified where additional explanations, hints, or activities might be helpful. I would also like to thank my MA127 Geometrical Explorations students over the years. Watching their teamwork, struggles, questioning, growth, and success has helped me revise these activities and transform them into a coherent text.
I thank the PROSE/PreTeXt community who made this format possible. Not only was the code available for use, they welcomed me as a new user, encouraged my project, and offered technical support. Steven Clontz and Oscar Levin were expecially helpful in helping me identify errors in my code, suggesting ways to yield desired outcomes, and exploring possible ideas for new structures. They, and other community members, took time out of their own busy schedules and made me feel welcome at their online office hours. I would also like to thank Rob Beezer and the other developers for creating and refining the PreTeXt markup language.
My own love of mathematics was sparked by people who encouraged me to explore. My parents, Paul and Patricia Deltz, provided a loving home filled with crafts, games, and puzzles. We were encouraged to play, experiment, and learn from our mistakes. Saint Thomas More School (Houston) teacher Crystal Mills allowed me to investigate Billiard Ball Geometry after I had demonstrated facility with seventh-grade mathematics. At the University of Dallas, professors Andrew Berner and Charles Coppin engaged us in inquiry-based lessons. Their inspiration led me to continue my studies and shaped my own philosophy of teaching.
Last but not least, I appreciate the love, support, and encouragement I’ve received from my family, especially my husband John and my son Paul. Paul also helped me as I struggled to use GitHub tools for the first time. It was a humbling and rewarding experience to learn from him; an experience I will always treasure.
