arcgis desktop - Opening *.gdb folder in ArcMap?

A librarian has helped me create some maps, and I need to open them. He is off work at the moment and I am in a rush for this. I have downloaded ArcGIS and he says I can open this with ArcMap. He has given me a folder that is .gdb and inside it contains many files:

.gdbindexes
.gdbtable
.gdbtablex
.spx
.atx
etc..

I cannot open any of them with ArcMap.

Answer

Assuming that you are able to start ArcMap, you should be able to add data stored within your file geodatabase (a folder with .gdb at the end) by using either Catalog window or the Add data button in the ArcMap application.

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s50000000v000000

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00660000044n000000

Don't browse to the file geodatabase within Windows Explorer since all the data is stored in binary format and you will not able to read it.