PREREQUISITE: MAT100Q – Quantitative Literacy I or MAT100 – Introductory Algebra, equivalent, or placement; placement into ENG101 and college-level reading, or completion of ENG101S and RDG095.

 COREQUISITE: None

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

• Online homework platform
• Students are required to have access to a computer and internet outside of class.  There is a computer lab available to students each Monday through Friday in our Tutoring Center (room 217 of the main building.)
• Three-ring binder
• A TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1.  Quantitative with Multiple Literacies Goal: Students will develop their quantitative reasoning abilities through learning and practicing other essential literacies and reasoning skills. In particular, students will practice and make explicit connections with the following reasoning skills and literacies:

Quantitative Literacy: Students will demonstrate the Quantitative Literacy “habit of mind.” In particular, students will:

• Demonstrate an appreciation for QL by reading about and discussing the importance of QL in the world both globally and in their lives.
• Show confidence in quantitative reasoning through perseverance in quantitative thinking and ability to transfer prior knowledge from one context to the next.
• Check the reasonableness of quantities that have been presented to them or numbers that they calculate or estimate.
• Use correct units when using numbers based on the context.  

Critical Reading: Students will be able to read and interpret quantitative information from a variety of real-world sources. Students will be able to recognize and evaluate quantitative assumptions.

Communication: Students will communicate quantitative results by:

• Writing and orally presenting their work using appropriate language, symbolism, data and graphs.
• Analyzing and using quantitative information to support an argument.

Information Literacy: Students will be develop critically thinking skills about quantitative information by evaluating sources of information and locating reliable and appropriate quantitative data.

Visual/Graphical Literacy: Students will be able to read, interpret, and make decisions based on visual displays of data, including line graphs and scatter plots.

Technology Literacy: Students will be able to use technology appropriately as a tool including:

• Knowing when and how to use calculators appropriately.
• Using computers and the internet to gather, research, and analyze quantitative information.  

2.  Numeracy Skills Goal: Students will develop and apply the concepts of numeracy to investigate and describe quantitative relationships and solve problems in a variety of contexts. Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate operation sense and communicate verbally and symbolically the effects of common operations on numbers.
• Demonstrate an understanding of and competency in using magnitude in the context of place values, fractions, and numbers written in scientific notation.
• Use estimation skills, knowing how and when to estimate results and to what precision, to solve problems, detect errors, and check accuracy.
• Be able to use and distinguish between statements involving absolute change and relative change.
• Be able to use and interpret percentages in a variety of contexts including but not limited to: Parts to whole comparisons, decimal representations of percentages, quantifying risks and other probabilities, rates, change, and rates of change.

3.  Proportional Reasoning Goal: Students will represent proportional relationships and solve problems that require an understanding of ratios, rates, proportions, and scaling. Students will be able to:

• Recognize proportional relationships from verbal and numeric representations.
• Compare proportional relationships represented in different ways.
• Apply quantitative reasoning strategies to solve real-world problems with proportional relationships based on an understanding that derived quantities can be described with whole numbers, fractions, and/or decimals with units.

4.  Algebraic Reasoning Goal: Students will reason using the language and structure of algebra to investigate, represent, and solve problems. Students will be able to:

• Construct and use equations to represent relationships involving one or more unknown or variable quantities to solve problems.

5.  Mathematical Modeling Goal: Students will reason using the language and structure of mathematical modeling to investigate, represent, and solve problems. Students will be able to:

• Create models of authentic contextual situations, including:
  • Using multiple representations of mathematical models such as tables, graphs, equations, and words.
  • Using multiple variables to represent quantities or attributes.
  • Describing why these tools are a useful strategy for understanding the world.
  • Describing limitations present in these models. 
• Create and use linear models of real-world situations.
• Describe the behavior of linear models using words, algebraic symbols, graphs, and tables.
• Identify when a linear model or trend is reasonable for given data or context.
• Determine a reasonable domain of the model based on the scenario.
• Use appropriate terms and units to describe rate of change.
• Create and use exponential models of real-world situations including growth and decay models.
• Describe the behavior of exponential models using words, algebraic symbols, graphs, and tables.
• Identify when an exponential model or trend is reasonable for given data or context.
• Develop mathematical modeling skills in personal finance that use basic exponential models.
• Identify when a linear and/or exponential model is reasonable.
• Identify important characteristics of models (e.g. increasing/decreasing, cyclic, etc.) that represent real world contexts.
• Identify multiple parameters in a scenario.
• Identify important characteristics of models in various representations.
• Understand that abstract mathematical models used to characterize real-world scenarios or physical relationships are not always exact and may be subject to error from many sources, including variability.

 

SUNY GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students will demonstrate the ability to:

1. interpret and draw inferences from mathematical models such as formulas, graphs, tables and schematics;
2. represent mathematical information symbolically, visually, numerically and verbally;
3. use arithmetical, algebraic, geometric and statistical methods to solve problems;
4. estimate and check mathematical results for reasonableness; and
5. recognize the limits of mathematical and statistical methods

GENERAL TOPICS OUTLINE:

1.      Module N (Numeracy)

• N.1. Introduction to Quantitative Reasoning
• N.2. Millions, Billions, or Trillions?
• N.3. A Trillion Dollars of Student Loans
• N.4. Computing and Interpreting Percentages
• N.5. The National Debt … How Big is It?
• N.6. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
• N.7. An Index for Your Salary
• N.8. Screening Tools – How Effective Are They?
• N.9. A Closer Look at Screening Tools

2.      Module M (Modeling)

• M.1. Mathematical Models: What’s Best?
• M.2. Linear Models
• M.3. Data are Trendy
• M.4. Four Equations … Two Models
• M.5. Modeling a New Type of Growth
• M.6. How Long Does That Take?
• M.7. A Trust in Social Security
• M.8. Multiple Variables Weighing on Your Mind?

3.      Module S (Statistics)

• S.1. Interpreting Charts and Graphs
• S.2. Measuring Success
• S.3. Statistical Analysis Process
• S.4. Sampling & Error
• S.5. Exploring Climate Data
• S.6. Exploring Climate Variability
• S.7. Modeling with Normal Distributions
• S.8. Significance in Observational Studies
• S.9. Significance in Experiments

 

The Math Department at CCC recommends that you review the following prerequisite topics to be successful in MAT101Q:

1) Fractions: Reducing, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

2) Translating: Sentences into Algebraic Expressions and Equations, then simplifying and solving them.

3) Solving: Equations containing one variable.

You can do this from home by selecting any of the aforementioned topics on the math-tutorial websites listed below; there you will find mini-lectures, worked problems, practice problems and helpful tips.

http://math.com/homeworkhelp/HotSubjects_fractions.html
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/translat.htm
http://www.coolmath.com/

Review of these topics will prepare you to be successful in the first four weeks when you are getting situated and accustomed to your new environment.

Feel free to contact a member of the Math Department or the Math Department Chair.