Course Info for MAT215 - CALCULUS FOR BUSINESS
This course provides skills and techniques necessary to solve mathematical problems of modern businesses. Course topics include a review of algebra and basic set theory; mathematical modeling; functions and their graphs; an introduction to limits; the methods of finding derivatives; the interpretation and applications of derivations in economic terms and finding antiderivatives with their applications in the business world. The use of a graphing calculator is required for this course to further the exploration of these topics and their applications. Near the end of the course, students will complete a comprehensive, departmental final exam.
This course meets the SUNY General Education course requirements for the Mathematics Knowledge and Skill area.
PREREQUISITE: MAT104, equivalent, or placement; placement into ENG101 and college-level reading, or completion of ENG101S and RDG095.
COREQUISITE: None
This course uses Open Educational Resources (OER). These are freely accessible educational materials that replace traditional textbooks. A $10 OER fee replaces the cost of a textbook for this course.
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
A graphing calculator (the TI-83, TI-83 Plus, or TI-84 Plus)
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
As the result of instructional activities, students will be able to:
- learn the vocabulary of the calculus that is used in the business work such as marginal cost, marginal revenue, producer’s surplus, consumer’s surplus, maximum and minimum.
- learn the techniques of both differential and integral calculus as they apply to the modern business world to such problems as finding equilibrium supply and demand marginal cost, producer’s surplus, total savings over a period of time, cost of warranty given the rate of maintenance costs, as well as optimization theory.
- learn to use the graphing calculator as a tool for calculus.
SUNY GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will demonstrate the ability to:
- interpret and draw inferences from mathematical models such as formulas, graphs, tables and schematics;
- represent mathematical information symbolically, visually, numerically and verbally;
- use arithmetical, algebraic, geometric and statistical methods to solve problems;
- estimate and check mathematical results for reasonableness; and
- recognize the limits of mathematical and statistical methods
GENERAL TOPICS OUTLINE:
- Functions and Limits (textbook chapter 1)- including definition of a function, linear functions, equilibrium supply and demand, operations on functions, including the limit of a function, properties and theorems of limits, continuity, limits to infinity
- Fundamentals of Modeling (textbook chapter 2)- including mathematical modeling, graphs, modeling in business, modeling using nonlinear functions
- The Derivative (textbook chapters 3 and 4)- including the definition of the derivative including secant and tangent Lines and the difference quotient, techniques of differentiation, applications of the derivative, tangential approximations, marginal cost and revenue, derivatives of products and quotients, Chain Rule of Derivatives, implicit differentiation
- Further Applications of the Derivative (textbook chapter 5)- including optimization theory and The First Derivative Test, The Second Derivative Test, applications of the Theory of Extrema, curve sketching with first and second derivatives
- Integration (textbook chapters 6 and 7)- including antiderivatives, area and the definite integral, The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, applications of integral, the area between two curves, the Chain Rule for Integrals, Tables of Integrals
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://mathbits.com/MathBits/TISection/Openpage.htm
http://www.coolmath.com/
http://archives.math.utk.edu/visual.calculus/index.html
Feel free to contact a member of the Math Department or the Math Department Chair.