  This is the first paper in a series (of four) designed to show how to use
geometric algebras of multivectors and extensors to a novel presentation of
some topics of differential geometry which are important for a deeper
understanding of geometrical theories of the gravitational field. In this first
paper we introduce the key algebraic tools for the development of our program,
namely the euclidean geometrical algebra of multivectors Cl(V,G_{E}) and the
theory of its deformations leading to metric geometric algebras Cl(V,G) and
some special types of extensors. Those tools permit obtaining, the remarkable
golden formula relating calculations in Cl(V,G) with easier ones in Cl(V,G_{E})
(e.g., a noticeable relation between the Hodge star operators associated to G
and G_{E}). Several useful examples are worked in details fo the purpose of
transmitting the "tricks of the trade".
