Contemporary Mathematics

Abstract

This workbook is the primary resource used for the co-requisite course, Contemporary Mathematics, at Montana State University. The co-requisite course is offered by Gallatin College and is intended for liberal arts students who need a course to fulfill their quantitative reasoning component. There is no prerequisite for this course; it is designed with an eye towards students who have had poor experiences with math and are looking for additional support. The content is organized into five units. The first unit, Dimensional Analysis and Problem Solving, equips the learner with the basic tools required to succeed throughout the course and examines different units of measurement and how they are connected via proportional reasoning. Unit 2 consists of an in-depth examination of percentages, including absolute versus relative difference, the relationship between "percent of" and "percent more/less than," and iterative percent changes. Unit 3 introduces the concept of a function and two different classes of functions — linear and exponential. Unit 4 builds on the concepts in Unit 3 through a discussion of financial math, including simple versus compound interest, future versus present value, savings plans, and loans. The second part of Unit 4 introduces basic concepts from probability and combinatorics. Unit 5 provides a brief overview of statistics, including displays of data, measures of central tendency, measures of variability, the normal distribution, and percentiles. The workbook includes twenty-six written assignments and five comprehensive reviews, one for each unit.