Spring 2011

Math 102 - Spring 2011
Applications of Mathematics
without Calculus

Prof: Robert Winters

Class meets:
Mon, Thurs - 2:50pm in SCI 364
Wed - 3:35pm in SCI 364

TEXT
Finite Mathematics for the
Managerial, Life, and
Social Sciences
Tan, 8th Ed.

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This semester, we'll use the text Finite Mathematics for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences, 8th Edition, by S.T. Tan, published by Thomson/Brooks-Cole, ISBN 978-0006-99194-6. A 9th edition and even a 10th edition (and earlier editions) are also available, but HW exercises will be taken from the 8th edition.

We may also make use of Microsoft Excel, so you may want to make sure that you have access to this software and are familiar with the basics of its use.

Announcements:

Thanks for attending the course!

We meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday in SCI 364 (2:50pm on Monday and Thursday, 3:35pm on Wednesday).

Course Syllabus (HTML)      Printable Course Syllabus (PDF)

Check the Calendar for a day-by-day schedule of classes and homework assignments as well as data to be used in the homework. Homework solutions will be posted after their due date.

In the meantime:   Physics from Hell

Frozen waterfall in the Middlesex Fells - Feb 1, 2004

Here's something:  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html

New Math

Tom Lehrer

Some of you who have small children may have perhaps been put in the embarrassing position of being unable to do your child's arithmetic homework because of the current revolution in mathematics teaching known as the New Math. So as a public service here tonight, I thought I would offer a brief lesson in the New Math. Tonight, we're gonna cover subtraction.

This is the first room I've worked for a while that didn't have a blackboard, so we will have to make do with more primitive visual aids, as they say in the ed biz. Consider the following subtraction problem, which I will put up here: 342 minus 173. Now, remember how we used to do that: But in the new approach, as you know, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer. Here's how they do it now:

You can't take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the tens place.
Now that's really four tens
So you make it three tens,
Regroup, and you change a ten to ten ones,
And you add 'em to the two and get twelve,
And you take away three, that's nine.
Is that clear?

Now instead of four in the tens place
You've got three,
'Cause you added one,
That is to say, ten, to the two,
But you can't take seven from three,
So you look in the hundreds place.

From the three you then use one
To make ten ones...
(And you know why four plus minus one
Plus ten is fourteen minus one?
'Cause addition is commutative, right!)...
And so you've got thirteen tens
And you take away seven,
And that leaves five...

Well, six actually...
But the idea is the important thing!

Now go back to the hundreds place,
You're left with two,
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves...?

Everybody get one?
Not bad for the first day!

Hooray for New Math,
New-hoo-hoo Math,
It won't do you a bit of good to review math.
It's so simple,
So very simple,
That only a child can do it!

Now, that actually is not the answer that I had in mind, because the book that I got this problem out of wants you to do it in base eight. But don't panic! Base eight is just like base ten really - if you're missing two fingers! Shall we have a go at it? Hang on...

You can't take three from two,
Two is less than three,
So you look at the four in the eights place.
Now that's really four eights,
So you make it three eights,
Regroup, and you change an eight to eight ones
And you add 'em to the two,
And you get one-two base eight,
Which is ten base ten,
And you take away three, that's seven.
Ok?

Now instead of four in the eights place
You've got three,
'Cause you added one,
That is to say, eight, to the two,
But you can't take seven from three,
So you look at the sixty-fours...

Sixty-four? "How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry! Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see? (Well, ya ask a silly question, ya get a silly answer!)

From the three, you then use one
To make eight ones,
You add those ones to the three,
And you get one-three base eight,
Or, in other words,
In base ten you have eleven,
And you take away seven,
And seven from eleven is four!
Now go back to the sixty-fours,
You're left with two,
And you take away one from two,
And that leaves...?

Now, let's not always see the same hands!
One, that's right.
Whoever got one can stay after the show and clean the erasers.

Hooray for New Math,
New-hoo-hoo Math!
It won't do you a bit of good to review math.
It's so simple,
So very simple, That only a child can do it!

Come back tomorrow night...we're gonna do fractions!

Y'know, I've often thought I'd like to write a mathematics textbook someday because I have a title that I know will sell a million copies; I'm gonna call it Tropic of Calculus.

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Please send comments to Robert Winters.

URL: http://math.rwinters.com/102

Last modified: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 1:29 AM