à READ the article,"Is Mathematics Necessary?", by
Underwood Dudley.
à Here is the Ch. 6 homework.
Skills Check 1 – 10, 12,15, 17, 23
Exercises 1 – 4, 9,10,11,12, 13,21,31,44, 46
Contemporary Mathematics – FALL MMIX – M-W
1:45 – 3:00
Dr. Marcus Wright
wright@rowan.edu
My office: Robinson 229D. Tel: 256-4500x3873 Math. Dept. tel: 256-4844 (Leave a message with our secretaries, Bette or Karen.)
To find my office to talk to me about any problems you’re having:
1. Enter the Mathematics Dept. Offices by the door opposite the
elevator on the second floor of Robinson.
2. Admire the beautiful 4-dimensional
dodecahedron that is suspended above the desk of the common
area where students can sit, study, and ask questions. (Down the hall
is the Mathematics Learning Center, where you can always go to study
and get help.)
3. My office is just to the left of this common area. It has a lot of
camouflage on it. The door is always open to you when I am
there. - My office hours: M through W 12:30 –
1:30 and by appointment.
E-mail is best way to get in touch with me. I encourage you to use it
freely to ask questions and give me feedback about the course.
A PUZZLE FOR YOU – it is an important tenet of my educational philosophy:
WHAT DOES THE FOLLOWING QUOTATION SAY?
The joy of looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.
Albert Einstein
Hint: the second word is joy.
To show students how learning mathematics can improve
problem solving and critical thinking skills
To acquaint students with some new topics in mathematics while
reviewing some areas already encountered and to show how the
mathematics involved is applied in the world today
To help students know how to use mathematics and the mathematical way
of thinking and modeling in their lives and how mathematics is being
used by others in various sectors of society
PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING ASSERTIONS. KEEP THEM IN MIND AS THIS
COURSE PROGRESSES.
"We have made a concerted effort to introduce the reader
to an entirely different view of mathematics from the one presented in
the traditional ... mathematics curriculum. The notion that general
education mathematics must be DULL, UNRELATED TO THE REAL WORLD, HIGHLY
TECHNICAL, and deal mostly with concepts that are HISTORICALLY ANCIENT
is totally unfounded.”
"The notion that there is such a thing as beauty
in mathematics is surprising to most casual
observers. There is an important aesthetic component in mathematics
and, just as in art and music (whichmathematics
very much resembles), it often surfaces in
the SIMPLEST ideas."
Both are quotations from Excursions in Mathematics, another
popular text for this course.
OUR Text: For All Practical Purposes, Eighth Edition,
W. H. Freeman and Co., 2009
Required: A "scientific" calculator, or a "graphing "
calculator, and, ABOVE ALL, an open mind. The
calculator will be used most extensively during the portion of the
course dealing with statistics.
Prerequisite: Intermediate Algebra, or Algebra II from
high school
Grading: Class Participation ______________ 10%
3 tests given in class ----------------------- 70%
(Last test given during exam period. It will be on all
topics
covered after the second test and selected
topics from throughout the course)
Homework Projects ----------------------- 10%
(includes homework notebooks, writing and research
assignments)
NB NB à Research project and poster
________10%
(involves researching a topic and writing a brief summary of
what you found out and presenting a description in a poster.)
Extra Credit Assignments--------------- will be announced
together
with their weight
Note: homework notebooks will collected at test times.
Attendance and Plagiarism: The official university
policies will be in effect. You can find these policies described near
the beginning of the printed course schedule for any semester, or you
can search for this information at rowan.edu. See also http://www.rowan.edu/studentaffairs/main_office/Publications/Infoguide.pdf
(Academic dishonesty is discussed starting on page 25.).
. CHEATING on a test will result in an F for that exam and a letter written to your adviser - and possibly other consequences. I consider cheating as morally and ethically VERY, VERY wrong! It is morally wrong because it damages you as a person, as well as others. It is ethically wrong because it gives you an unfair advantage. PLAGARISM WILL ALSO BE DEALT WITH SIMILARLY. See link above.
You are expected to attend every meeting of the course. Please give me a WRITTEN explanation of any absence. You are responsible for every verbal or written announcement made in class. Home work assignments will be announced OR HANDED OUT at the beginning of class.
Please see me soon if you have a disability that requires accommodation
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE ISSUES ASK THEM TODAY OR SOON.
CELL PHONES AND COMPUTERS: MUST BE TURNED OFF DURING CLASS.
PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO GET TO CLASS ON TIME.
.
TENATIVE OUTLINE
SUBJECTS TO STUDY, LOCATION IN TEXT
I. Statistics, the Science of Dealing with Data
- Collecting, Describing, Summarizing and Obtaining Valid Conclusions
from Data - Chs. 5-
II. A. Examples of Discrete Mathematical Models and Problem Solving – Management Science/Operation Research :Graph Theory: Euler Circuits, Hamiltonian Circuits, Traveling Salesman Problem, Heuristic Algorithms, Minimal Cost Spanning Trees and Kruskal's Algorithm, and Critical Path Analysis - Chs.1, 2
B. Mathematics Applied to Social Choice
and Decision-Making -Social choice algorithms (i.e., voting
methods) and their analysis; weighted voting systems, Chs.
9, 11, 13
Test Two will be on Chs. 1, 2, 9, 11, 13
III. Mathematical Analysis of Patterns in Numbers and Space. Number Patterns - Fibonacci sequence and other recursive sequences, exponential growth, rigid motions of the plane and strip patterns, tessellation of the plane- Topics from Chs. 18, 19, 20, 21
Test Three will be on Chs. 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21 and selected topics from throughout the semester
STARTER ASSIGNMENTS: 1. FOR Wed., Sept. 9: Read
Chapter 5. Work on the following problems and be prepared to discuss
them at our next class
Skills Check 1 -14, 16, 17, 18,19, 20. Exercises 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14,
19,37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 47, 48.
2. For Wed., Sept. 9:
à READ the article,"Is Mathematics
Necessary?", by
Underwood Dudley.
à Here is the Ch. 6 homework.
Skills Check 1 – 10, 12,15, 17, 23
Exercises 1 – 4, 9,10,11,12, 13,21,31,44, 46
3. For Mon., Sept. 14: Hand in a 3-5 page “Mathematical
Autobiography”, in which you relate some of your experiences learning
mathematics, and your attitudes about it. You are free to respond
to this assignment in any way you want. Just try to write well - be
insightful and honest, and show that you have read the article and the
course syllabus.
Ch. 7 homework: Skills
Check 1 – 20
Exercises 1,3,5,6,7,9, 12, 15,36,38,42,43,46,48,51,53
Ch. 7 homework
due: tba
Further due dates and assignments will be handed out later.
Calc. T & A – Homework
Assignment Two
“When is it due?”
At the beginning of each week I will
announce what we will be working on that week and when we you should
have all
your questions about that material settled.
The homework books
will be collected at exam time. All the homework on the sections
covered by the
exam are due at the exam time.
Sec 2.1 – Tech. Ex.,
p. 66: 1,3,5,9,15
2.2 p. 72
1,5,7,17,25,27,31,33,35,43,45,47,51,58,65
2.3 Study Example 3,
p.79 -you will not be asked to construct the function in this model.
Study Example 5, p. 82
Exercises
1,3,7,9,11,15,17,19,23,51,55,61,63,71,74
2.4 We start with
Calculus. Limits
Exercises, p. 111 1-15 odd,
17,19,23,27,31,37,39,41,49,51,65,66,73,77,83,85
Technology Exercise, p. 117 7,8
2.5 1-19, odd,21,25,39,41,43,63
EXAM
ONE – DATE TBA
2.6 Exercises, p. 145
ff. :1,3,6,13,15,19,21,25,37,43
3.1 1-21, odd, 27,
33, 37,41,53,57,58,65
3.2 11-21, odd,
33,39,41,47,53,58
3.3 1-17, odd,
33,35,49,51,55,57,69,82
3.4 1,3(your ans. To
a and b should be about the same.),5,9,11,23,31
3.5 1,3,7,9,21,31,37
3.6
1,7,13,15,31,41,47,63
37 1,7,11
EXAM TWO,
TENTATIVELY
BELOW: 1.
NATURE DOESN’T LIKE TO DISCRIMINATE, BUT
2. OFTEN, ABOVE ALL, NATURE
MINIMIZES!
