The functional programming language ML is becoming the main medium for teaching functional ideas in a university environment. This book is introductory and adopts an incremental approach, whilst the coverage is problem-oriented: at each stage a problem is introduced which can be solved by the techniques the book teaches. Beginning with a historical perspective and an introduction to simple functions, the book goes on to cover areas such as recursive functions, dynamic types and higher order functions. A real-life case study is included.