Syllabus Math 108 Section 0201 Topics in Mathematics (Practical Mathematics) Spring 2012 Online course using Sakai Contact Information: Instructor: James Baglama Phone: 401.874.4412 Office: Lippitt Hall 200B Email: [email protected] Office Hours: TTh 11:30am-12:30am or by appointment Learning Outcomes: The course is designed to help students learn to think logically and analytically, and to understand the importance and practical applications of math in everyday life, science, and technology. Course Description: The online Math 108, Practical Mathematics, is a special topics course that satisfies the general education requirement for math at the University of Rhode Island. The three general educations skills addressed in this class, are reading complex texts, using quantitative data, and using information technology. The content of the course is intended for students majoring in the liberal arts or other fields that do not have a specific mathematical requirement. This course covers in part the following topics, Management Science, Identification Numbers, Transmitting Information and Cryptography, the Internet, Voting Methods, Data Distributions, and the Mathematics of Money. Prerequisite for this course is basic high school math. Evaluation/Grade: A (92% - 100%) A- (90% - 91%) B+ (87% - 89%) B (82% - 86%) B- (80% - 81%) C+ (77% - 79%) C (72% - 76%) C- (70% - 71%) D+ (67% - 69%) D (60% - 66%) F (0% - 59%) Compute Grade -> (your total points)/384 * 100 = your percentage Remark: No across the board curves allowed. Extra credit points translate into a 0% - 2.5% curve in your favor. Everyone will have an opportunity for extra credit points. These (extra credit points) will not be given, but earned by you and will be applied individually. Description Points 3 Online quizzes 50 points each, total 150 points 9 Homework assignments 10 points each, total 90 points 5 Learning Mathematics Assignments 18 points each, total 90 points Participation (9 discussion groups, i.e. Forums) 6 points each, total 54 points Extra credit maximum allowed 10 points 0 to 10 points 384 total pointsTextBook: (Must have textbook by Monday January 23) “For All Practical Purposes”, 8th edition by COMAP. Publisher W.H. Freeman. Option 1: Electronic textbook, referred to as the ebook. The website for the electronic textbook, http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/fapp8e.php. The ebook cost $57.95 for one-year access to the electronic textbook. The instructor's email address is [email protected] Option 2: Purchase a new or used hard copy of the textbook. Kingston bookstore, W.H. Freeman Website, or Amazon.com. Course Outline: Date Essays/Quizzes Chapter Homework Problems (Hand in) HW Due Date 1 Jan. 23 – Feb. 2 (11 days) Classes begin Ch. 1 pp. 22-24 4, 6, 8, 18, 26, 28, 30 Feb. 2 2 Feb. 3 – Feb. 12 (10 days) Learning Mathematics Assignment 1 Due Feb. 12 Ch. 2 pp. 54-63 2, 4, 12, 24, 42, 52, 70 Feb. 12 3 Feb. 13 – Feb. 23 (10 days) Ch. 5 pp. 176-179 6, 10, 14, 22, 32 Feb. 23 4 Feb. 24 – Mar. 4 (10 days) Quiz 1 Chapters 1, 2, 5 Ch. 8 pp. 275 - 278 1, 4, 12, 22, 32, 36 Mar. 4 5 Mar. 5 – Mar. 21 (10 days) Learning Mathematics Assignment 2 Due Mar. 21 Ch. 9 pp. 308-309 2, 6, 10, 12, 14 Mar. 21 6 Mar. 22 – Mar. 31 (10 days) Learning Mathematics Assignment 3 Due Mar. 31 Ch. 16 pp. 527-528 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 34, 38 Mar. 31 7 Apr. 1 – Apr. 10 (10 days) Quiz 2 Chapters 8, 9, 16 Ch. 17 pp. 564-566 2, 4, 8, 14, 30, 58 Apr. 10 8 Apr. 11 – Apr. 20 (10 days) Learning Mathematics Assignment 4 Due Apr. 20 Ch. 21 pp. 700-704 2, 5, 6, 18, 23, 24, 40, 44 Apr. 20 9 Apr. 21 – Apr. 30 (10 days) Learning Mathematics Assignment 5 Due Apr. 30 Ch. 22 pp. 725 - 728 1, 2, 5, 6, 17, 18 Apr. 30 10 May 1 – May 10 (10 days) Quiz 3 Chapters 17, 21, 22Learning Mathematics Assignments: There will be five Learning Mathematics Assignments this semester on the five parts of the textbook we are covering. Textbook Part Due Date Learning Mathematics Assignment 1 Part I: Management Science Chapters 1 and 2 11:55 p.m. Sun. Feb. 12 Learning Mathematics Assignment 2 Part II: Statistics: The Science of Data Chapters 5 and 8 11:55 p.m. Wed. Mar. 21 Learning Mathematics Assignment 3 Part III: Voting and Social Choice Chapter 9 11:55 p.m. Sat. Mar. 31 Learning Mathematics Assignment 4 Part V: The Digital Revolution Chapters 16 and 17 11:55 p.m. Fri. Apr. 20 Learning Mathematics Assignment 5 Part VII: Your Money and Resources Chapters 21 and 22 11:55 p.m. Mon. Apr. 30 The first Learning Mathematics Assignment will be posted on the first day of class. The next Learning Mathematics Assignment will be posted after the due date of the first assignment, i.e. 12:00 am Monday February 13. I will continue this process for the semester. The assignments require you to show me that you have an understanding of the material. You must EXPLAIN in detail what you are doing. You must use proper grammar and you must use concepts from the textbook and from other sources. The grading rubric is given below. A student that receives 6pts on each criterion would receive a grade of 18pts. Learning Mathematics Assignment Grading Rubric Criteria 6pts 3pts 1pt or 0 pts Learning Objective Clearly shows the learning objective and illustrates the concepts. Topic is thoroughly covered. Some relation to the learning objective or concepts. Does not relate to the learning objective or/and does not illustrate the concepts. Show misunderstanding of the concepts. Uses facts/ examples from textbook and other sources You clearly show some textbook facts/ examples and facts/examples from other sources. All facts are correct and all examples are correct You used very few textbook facts/examples. No or little facts/examples from other sources. Some errors in the facts/examples. No textbook facts/examples. No facts/examples from other sources. Major errors in the facts or examples. Shows a misunderstanding. Quality Well-organized, well written, displays original thought, ideas follow and relate to each other in a logical way. Not well written and/or contains a few grammatical or spelling errors, but shows original thought and ideas follow and relate to each other in a logical way. The written part is too short, shows very little information, and contains many grammatical or spelling errors. Little effort made, looks like it was prepared night before or copied from the Internet. Not well written,