Most students taking this course do so to fulfill a requirement, but the true benefit of the course is learning how to use and understand mathematics in daily life. This quantitative reasoning text is written expressly for those students, providing them with the mathematical reasoning and quantitative literacy skills they'll need to make good decisions throughout their lives. Common-sense applications of mathematics engage students while underscoring the practical, essential uses of math.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Prologue: Literacy for the Modern World
Part 1 Logic and Problem Solving
Chapter 1 Thinking Critically
1A Recognizing Fallacies
1B Propositions and Truth Values
1C Sets and Venn Diagrams
1D Analyzing Arguments
1E Critical Thinking in Everyday Life
Chapter 2 Approaches to Problem Solving 2A The Problem-Solving Power of Units
2B Standardized Units: More Problem-Solving Power
2C Problem-Solving Guidelines and Hints
Part 2 Quantitative Information in Everyday Life
Chapter 3 Numbers in the Real World
3A Uses and Abuses of Percentages
3B Putting Numbers in Perspective 3C Dealing with Uncertainty
3D Index Numbers: The CPI and Beyond
3E How Numbers Deceive: Polygraphs, Mammograms, and More
Chapter 4 Managing Your Money 4A Taking Control of Your Finances
4B The Power of Compounding
4C Savings Plans and Investments
4D Loan Payments, Credit Cards, and Mortgages
4E Income Taxes
4F Understanding the Federal Budget
Part 3 Probability and Statistics
Chapter 5 Statistical Reasoning
5A Fundamentals of Statistics
5B Should You Believe a Statistical Study?
5C Statistical Tables and Graphs
5D Graphics in the Media
5E Correlation and Causality
Chapter 6 Putting Statistics to Work 6A Characterizing a Data Distribution
6B Measures of Variation
6C The Normal Distribution
6D Statistical Inference
Chapter 7 Probability: Living with the Odds 7A Fundamentals of Probability
7B Combining Probabilities
7C The Law of Large Numbers
7D Assessing Risk
7E Counting and Probability
Part 4 Modeling
Chapter 8 Exponential Astonishment
8A Growth: Linear versus Exponential
8B Doubling Time and Half-Life
8C Real Population Growth
8D Logarithmic Scales: Earthquakes, Sounds, and Acids
Chapter 9 Modeling Our World 9A Functions: The Building Blocks of Mathematical Models
9B Linear Modeling
9C Exponential Modeling
Chapter 10 Modeling with Geometry 10A Fundamentals of Geometry
10B Problem Solving with Geometry
10C Fractal Geometry
Part 5 Further Applications
Chapter 11 Mathematics and the Arts
11A Mathematics and Music
11B Perspective and Symmetry
11C Proportion and the Golden Ratio
Chapter 12 Mathematics and Politics 12A Voting: Does the Majority Always Rule?
12B Theory of Voting
12C Apportionment: The House of Representatives and Beyond
12D Dividing the Political Pie
Chapter 13 Mathematics and Business 13A Network Analysis
13B The Traveling Salesman Problem
13C Scheduling Problems
Credits Answers
Index
About the Author :
Jeffrey Bennett specializes in mathematics and science education. He has taught at every level, from pre-school through graduate school, including more than 50 college courses in mathematics, physics, astronomy, and education. His work on Using and Understanding Mathematics began in 1987, when he helped create a new mathematics course for the University of Colorado’s core curriculum. Variations on this course, with its quantitative reasoning approach, are now taught at hundreds of colleges nationwide. In addition to his work in mathematics, Dr. Bennett (whose PhD is in astrophysics) has written leading college-level textbooks in astronomy, statistics, and the new science of astrobiology, as well as books for the general public. He also proposed and developed both the Colorado Scale Model Solar System on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus and the Voyage Scale Model Solar System, a permanent, outdoor exhibit on the National Mall in Washington, DC. He has recently begun writing science books for children, including the award-winning Max Goes to the Moon and Max Goes to Mars. When not working, he enjoys masters swimming and hiking the trails of Boulder, Colorado, with his family.
William L. Briggs has been on the mathematics faculty at the University of Colorado at Denver for 22 years. He teaches numerous courses within the undergraduate and graduate curriculum, and has special interest in teaching calculus, differential equations, and mathematical modeling. He developed the quantitative reasoning course for liberal arts students at University of Colorado at Denver supported by his textbook Using and Understanding Mathematics. He has written two other tutorial monographs, The Multigrid Tutorial and The DFT: An Owner's Manual for the Discrete Fourier Transform, as well as Ants, Bikes, Clocks, a mathematical problem solving text for undergraduates. He is a University of Colorado President's Teaching Scholar, an Outstanding Teacher awardee of the Rocky Mountain Section of the MAA, and the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Ireland. Bill lives with his wife, Julie, and their gordon setter, Seamus, in Boulder, Colorado. He loves to bake bread, run trails, and rock climb in the mountains near his home.
