This article reports that two programs for teaching mathematics in the early grades--Math Expressions and Saxon Math--emerged as winners in early findings released last week from a large-scale federal experiment that pits four popular, and philosophically distinct, math curricula against one another. But the results don't promise to end the so-called "math wars" anytime soon, according to experts. That's because the two most successful programs embody different approaches to teaching math in grades K-2. The Saxon curriculum, published by Harcourt Achieve of Austin, Texas, is a more traditional, scripted program in which teachers offer explicit instruction on effective mathematics procedures. The Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Co.'s Math Expressions curriculum, in comparison, integrates a more reform-oriented emphasis on student reasoning with direct teaching that is aimed at moving students to more-advanced mathematical strategies. Involving 1,309 1st graders in 39 elementary schools, the four-state study is considered the largest experiment to test some of the nation's most widely used commercial math programs. It was commissioned by the Institute of Education Sciences, the primary research arm for the U.S. Department of Education. Mathematica Policy Research Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey, headed up the project.