Common Sense Mathematics by Ethan Bolker
Common Sense Mathematics is a text for a one semester college-level course in quantitative literacy. The text emphasizes common sense and common knowledge in approaching real problems through popular news items and finding useful mathematical tools and frames with which to address those questions. We asked ourselves what we hoped our students would remember about this course in ten years time. From that ten year perspective thoughts about syllabus what topics should we cover? seemed much too narrow. What matters more is our wish to change the way our students' minds work the way they approach a problem, or, more generally, the way they approach the world. Most people skip the numbers in newspapers, magazines, on the web and (more importantly) even in financial information. We hope that in ten years our students will follow the news, confident in their ability to make sense of the numbers they find there and in their daily lives. Most quantitative reasoning texts are arranged by mathematical topics to be mastered. Since the mathematics is only a part of what we hope students learn, we've chosen another strategy. We look at real life stories that can be best understood with careful reading and a little mathematics.
The authors present a remarkable collection of problem situations gleaned from public media and supplemented by topics of personal financeThe problem situations are not only central to students. everyday lives but also provide a venue for continuing learning beyond a course and beyond school. Based on years of teaching quantitative reasoning, the book offers a clear model for such a course for the inexperienced teacher as well as opportunities for localizing and extending the material for the more experienced teacher." - Bernard L. Madison, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Ethan D. Bolker completed his PhD in mathematics at Harvard University, after which he became an instructor at Princeton University and an Assistant and Associate Professor at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. In 1972, he became a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He retired in 2014. While at the University of Massachusetts, he chaired the joint Mathematics and Computer Science Departments for twelve years. He earned the Chancellor's Award for Scholarship in 1979 and for Teaching in 2003. Maura B. Mast became Dean of Fordham College, Rose Hill, in 2015. She is the first woman to be Dean of the College and the first Dean with a background in science and mathematics. Prior to moving to Fordham, she was Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Dr Mast has been recognised on several occasions for her teaching abilities. She has received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the University of North Carolina, the College of Natural Sciences Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence from the University of Northern Iowa, and the Science Dean's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching, Research and Service from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is still an active researcher in the field of differential geometry.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781939512109 |
| ISBN 10 | 1939512107 |
| Title | Common Sense Mathematics |
| Author | Ethan D Bolker |
| Series | Mathematical Association Of America Textbooks |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Mathematical Association of America |
| Year published | 2016-06-02 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |