This document provides an introduction to atomic theory, elements, and chemical symbols and formulas. It discusses early ideas from Democritus and Aristotle, and developments in the 17th-18th centuries by scientists like Lavoisier, Proust, and Dalton who proposed theories of atoms and the law of constant composition. Evidence for the atomic theory includes scanning tunneling microscopes and the need to understand the submicroscopic world of atoms. Around 114 known elements are introduced, with symbols usually the first letter(s) of their names. Formulas represent the atoms in compounds using symbols and subscripts to indicate numbers.