A Mathematical View of Our World

by Parks, Harold; Musser, Gary; Trimpe, Lynn; Maurer, Vikki; Maurer, Roger

• ISBN13: 9780495110750
• ISBN10: 0495110752
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-16
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

A MATHEMATICAL VIEW OF OUR WORLD helps students understand and harness the power of mathematics in their present studies and future careers. Designed for a liberal arts mathematics course that has a strong focus on applications, this student-friendly textbook helps students see the beauty and power of mathematics as it is applied to the world around them. Recognizing that quantitative literacy is essential in an increasing number of professional fields as well as in the daily decision-making and communication of informed citizens, the book develops students' mathematical self-confidence and prepares them to use mathematics in the future. In writing the book, the authors endeavored to be faithful to the recommendations of such professional mathematics associations as the MAA, AMATYC, and NCTM. Overall, students will recognize the connections, patterns, and significance of the mathematics they study, and see that mathematics has a meaningful place in their lives.

Table of Contents

Numbers in Our Lives

Identification Numbers and Check Digits

Modular Arithmetic and Check Digit Schemes

Encoding Data

Shapes in Our Lives

Tilings

Symmetry, Rigid Motions, and Escher Patters

Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Mean - Shapes in Nature

Voting and Elections

Voting Systems

Flaws of the Voting Systems

Weighted Voting Systems

Fair Division

Divide and Choose Methods

Discrete and Mixed Division Problems

Envy-Free Division

Apportionment

The Apportionment Problem - Quota Methods

The Apportionment Problem - Divisor Methods

Flaws of the Apportionment Methods

Routes and Networks

Routing Problems

Network Problems

The Traveling Salesperson Problem

Scheduling

Basic Concepts of Scheduling

The List-Processing Algorithm and the Decreasing-Time Algorithm

The Critical-Path Algorithm

Descriptive Statistics - Data and Patterns

Organizing and Picturing Data

Comparisons

Enhancement, Distraction, and Distortion

Collecting and Interpreting Data

Populations, Samples, and Data

Survey Sampling Methods

Measures of Central Tendency and Variability

Probability

Computing Probabilities in Simple Experiments

Computing Probabilities in Multistage Experiments

Conditional Probability, Expected Value, and Odds

Inferential Statistics

Normal Distributions

Applications of Normal Distributions

Confidence Intervals and Reliable Estimation

Growth And Decay

Malthusian Population Growth

Population Decrease, Radioactive Decay

Logistic Population Models

Consumer Mathematics--Buying and Saving

Simple and Compound Interest

Loans

Buying a House.

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.