Quantitative Literacy fully prepares students to be informed consumers of quantitative information with coverage that neatly balances discussions of ideas with computational practice. Through a wide range of examples and applications, the authors show students that they use math in their everyday lives more than they realize, and that learning math takes palce in real-world contexts. Students develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills to make intelligent decisions about regarding money, voting and politics, health issues, and much more.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Critical Thinking
1.1 Public policy and Simpson’s paradox: Is average always average?
1.2 Logic and informal fallacies: Does that argument hold water?
1.3 Formal logic and truth tables: Do computers think?
1.4 Sets and Venn diagrams: Pictorial logic
1.5 Critical thinking and number sense: What do these figures mean?
Chapter 2: Analysis of Growth
2.1 Measurements of growth: How fast is it changing?
2.2 Graphs: Picturing growth
2.3 Misleading graphs: Should I believe my eyes?
Chapter 3: Linear and Exponential Change: Comparing Growth Rates
3.1 Lines and linear growth: What does a constant rate mean?
3.2 Exponential growth and decay: Constant percentage rates
3.3 Logarithmic phenomena: Compressed scales
3.4 Quadratics and parabolas
Chapter 4: Personal Finance
4.1 Saving money: The power of compounding
4.2 Borrowing: How much car can you afford?
4.3 Saving for the long term: Build that nest egg
4.4 Credit cards: Paying off consumer debt
4.5 Inflation, taxes, and stocks: Managing your money
Chapter 5: Introduction to Probability
5.1 Calculating probabilities: How likely is it?
5.2 Medical testing and conditional probability: Ill or not?
5.3 Counting and theoretical probabilities: How many?
5.4 More ways of counting: Permuting and combining
5.5 Expected value and the law of large numbers: Don’t bet on it
Chapter 6: Statistics
6.1 Data summary and presentation: Boiling down the numbers
6.2 The normal distribution: Why the bell curve?
6.3 The statistics of polling: Can we believe the polls?
6.4 Statistical inference and clinical trials: Effective drugs?
Chapter 7: Graph Theory
7.1 Modeling with graphs and finding Euler circuits
7.2 Hamilton circuits and traveling salesmen: Efficient routes
7.3 Trees: Viral e-mails and spell checkers
Chapter 8: Voting and Social Choice
8.1 Measuring voting power: Does my vote count?
8.2 Voting systems: How do we choose a winner?
8.3 Fair division: What is a fair share?
8.4 Apportionment: Am I represented?
Chapter 9: Geometry
9.1 Perimeter, area, and volume: How do I measure?
9.2 Proportionality and similarity: Changing the scale
9.3 Symmetries and tilings: Form and patterns
Appendix 1: Unit Conversion
Appendix 2: Exponents and Scientific Notation
Appendix 3: Calculators, Parentheses, and Rounding
Appendix 4: Basic Math
Appendix 5: Problem Solving
Answers
Credits
Index
About the Author :
Bruce Crauder received his B.A. from Haverford College and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. After post-doctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study, the University of Utah, and the University of Pennsylvania, Crauder came to Oklahoma State University, where he is now Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean. Crauder’s research in algebraic geometry has resulted in 10 refereed articles in as many years in his specialty, three-dimensional birational geometry.
Benny Evans received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He is currently Professor of Mathematics at Oklahoma State University, where he has served as undergraduate director, associate head, and department head. He has held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study, Rice University, and Texas A&M. His research interests are topology and mathematics education.
Jerry Johnson received his B.S. in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University and his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He was on the faculty of Oklahoma State University from 1969 until 1993, when he moved to the University of Nevada, Reno to become director of their Math Center and Math Across the Curriculum Project. From 1995 to 2001 he was chairman of the Department of Mathematics. He has received fifteen funded grants, including seven from the National Science Foundation. He has published 17 refereed papers in mathematics research journals and 36 papers in various journals and conference proceedings related to mathematics education. He is the author of GyroGraphics, a mathematics software package for which he received the EDUCOM Distinguished Mathematics Software award in 1991.
Alan Noell has a B.A. degree in Mathematics from Texas A&M University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from Princeton University. After a postdoctoral position at CalTech, in 1985 he joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University, where he is now Professor of Mathematics. His research interests are in the area of several complex variables. He has also enjoyed working in the area of curriculum development. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and other sources.
