This chapter contains a brief summary of several types of mathematical knowledge needed to read this book, including the elements of logic, set theory, mapping theory, and algebraic structures such as number systems and vector spaces. Definitions of basis, dimension, linear mappings, isomorphism, matrices and determinants are given; there is also discussion of the roles of axioms, theorems, and definitions in a mathematical theory. The main development of the book begins here with the statement of eight incidence axioms and proof of a few theorems including one from Desargues.