Ideas in Math

This course is a part of:
Associate's Degree Program
Bachelor's Degree Program

What is the best route to take to the airport? What is the best way to elect the president? How can we sustain a renewable resource? These are just some of the questions that we will explore in this introductory mathematics course for the non-major.

In fifteen lectures we will develop six topics in depth, chosen for their importance, timeliness and accessibility. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the problems and their applications to the real world and approaches to solving problems including computational methods. The course starts out slowly to help students gain confidence, and critical-thinking skills are carefully developed throughout.

Course Objectives

Mathematical models underlie decisions in science and industry and economics and business, and using mathematics to solve problems can improve our lives. The primary goal of this course is mathematical literacy – for the student to understand how mathematics is used in the world around us. The student will gain this broad understanding of contemporary mathematics through the study of the following specific topics:

• Graph Theory: Finding Optimal Solutions
• Probability and Statistics: Analyzing and Manipulating Data
• Voting Systems: Fairness and Social Choice
• Game Theory: Conflict Strategies
• Information Science: Identification numbers, Codes, and Cryptography
• Dynamical Systems and Chaos: Biological Populations and Sustaining Resources