Office Hours:  TBA

OFFICE LOCATION: ST. – 116

OFFICE PHONE: 545-3359

PLACEMENT  REQUIREMENTS:  High school geometry or equivalent, MATH 107 Intermediate Algebra or testing criteria.  (ACT Math score of 23 or  KC Asset Exam Score of 41-55 on Int. Alg. Test.)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  A selection of mathematical principles to better understand issues in a contemporary society. The focus is on mathematical reasoning and the solving of real-life problems rather than routine skills and appreciation.  Topics include mathematical modeling,   probability and statistics, graph theory, and linear programming.  

TEXTBOOK: For All Practical Purposes, by Comap  (6th edition, 2003)

EVALUATION: Five 50-minute exams will be given during the semester. 100 pts. Each.

                            Test 1 Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 Euler and Hamiltonian Circuits
                            Test 2 Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 Planning and Scheduling
                            Test 3 Chapter5 and Chapter 6 Gathering and Describing Data
                            Test 4 Chapter 7 Analyzing Data
                            Test 5 Chapter 9 Error Detecting Codes

Homework and announced/unannounced quizzes 100 pts.

Thus, TOTAL POINTS FOR THE CLASS would be 500 pts.

Grades will be assigned as follows:

450 – 500 A, 400 – 449 B, 350 – 399 C, 300 – 349 D, below 300 F

CHEATING POLICY: If caught cheating in any way, the student will receive an F for the final grade.

ATTENDANCE  POLICY: To be successful in a math course, attendance would be very important, almost critical. If more than two weeks of classes are missed without a valid excuse ( death in family, hospitalization, nuclear blast, etc.) I reserve the right to withdraw you from class with an F. If you know in advance that you cannot attend class on a certain day, you may possibly get my prior approval. There are no make-up exams or quizzes. If you come to class late, you will not receive extra time for exams or quizzes. You must take the Final Exam (test 5) to have your lowest test score dropped.

Math 130 Contemporary Mathematics Outcomes

After successful completion of Math 130 a student should be able to perform the following at a 70% success rate. (C or better)

1. Determined whether a graph contains for Euler circuit.
2. Find an approximate solution to the traveling salesman problem by applying the nearest-neighbor algorithm.
3. Find an approximate solution to the traveling salesman problem by applying the sorted-edges algorithm.
4. Given a graph with edge weights, determine a minimum-cost-spanning tree.
5. Find the earliest possible completion time for a collection of tasks by finding the critical path in their order requirement digraph.
6. Apply the list-processing algorithm to schedule independent task on identical processors.
7. When given an order-requirement digraph, apply the list-processing algorithm to schedule a list of task subject to the digraph.
8. Solve a bin-packing problem
9. Apply the corner point theorem to determine the maximum profit for a linear programming problem.
10. Identify the population in a given sampling or experimental situation.
11. Identify the sample in a given sampling or experimental situation.
12. Analyze a sampling example to detect sources of bias.
13. Use a table of random digits to select a random sample from a small population.
14. Describe the placebo effect.
15. Calculate the measures of central tendency of a set of data.
16. List the five-number summary for a given data set.
17. Construct a histogram and/or a scatterplot for a small data set.
18. Describe the sample space for a given random phenomenon.
19. Explain what is meant by the probability of an outcome.
20. Apply the laws of probability to determine the validity of a probability model.
21. Compute the probability of an event when the probability model of the experiment is given.
22. Apply the 68%-95%-99.7% rule to compute normal probability
23. Compute the expected value of an outcome when the associated probability model is defined.
24. Explain the significance of the central limit theorem.
25. Understand the purpose of a check digit and be able to determine one for various schemes.
26. Be able to convert a given ZIP code to its corresponding bar code, and vice versa.