Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights

Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights Fall 2003 Page
The following is NOT HOMEWORK unless you miss part or all of the class. See the Main Class Web Page for ALL homework and due dates.



  • Mon Apr 26 Review Lab

  • Tues Apr 27 Go over selections from lab. Go over credit card statement, payday lending offer, real-life rates, and ways to build good credit. Student evaluations. Discuss final study guide and take questions.
  • Mon Apr 19 Condo Lab

  • Tues Apr 20 Collect homework. Go over 1) If I can afford to save $100 per month for a $50,000 car, in an account compounding monthly at 8%, then how long will it take for me to save up? Set up the formula for the problem but do not solve. If I told you that the answer was approximately 18.38 years would that make sense? Show work to explain why. 2)What will my monthly payment be if I take out a car loan at 8% compounded monthly for $50,000 for 18.38 years? 3) Use the Sept 2000 interest rate of 8.25% compounded monthly for the 105265 condo with a loan of 80%. What is the monthly payment? What is the 1st months interest? What is the total interest over the life of the loan? Compare to chart on condo lab. Finish Dr. Sarah's condo part 2. If time remains then look at the credit card statement and figure out where the numbers came from.

  • Thur Apr 22 Take attendance, collect labs, and hand back Tuesday's homework. Time to work on How Do You Know p. 92-94 numbers 9, 14, 21 and 24, and p. 103 number 8 and then call students up to the board to present the problems. Go over credit card offers. Students can then work on the Ben Franklin lab or WebCT quizzes in 203 or 205(free at 2:50).
  • Thur Apr 15 Loan payment formula. Student loan statements. Begin condo lab. If time remains, work on homework for Tuesday.
  • Mon Apr 5
    cuneiform   babylonian   interest        
    CUNEIFORM TABLET
    origins of banking
    origins of banking
    usury   interest   Babylonian   money        
    Usury is Piracy Lisa's Thrifty Savers savings account from Bart the Fink. Ben Franklin's Will - Part 1 and WebCT quiz 8. If time remains then work on reading for tomorrow, finish up the "Worth More's," or begin searching for real-life rates (see main web page).

  • Tues Apr 6 Review lump sum formula and the philosophy we used to come up with it and review how much we will end up with if $100 is deposited into an account and left alone for 25 years, compounded monthly at 5%. Compare to $100 deposited every month into an account and left alone for 25 years, compounded monthly at 5%. Work towards the periodic payment formula and compare the philosophy to the lump sum formula derivation. Transparencies from class $100 is deposited each month for 12 years into an account compounding 5% monthly. How much do we end up with? We'll do an exercise to show that the number of digits we use does matter! 100 is deposited each month for 12 years into an account compounding 5% monthly. What do we have at the end? The interest rate is .05/12=.004166666... Each group of 3 used a different number of digits and rounding versus truncation methods (ie .004,.0041, .0042,.00416, .00417,.004166, .004167, .0041666, .0041667 ). The group helped each other with their calculators and made sure that they all came up with the same answer. We compared the final answers to show that we should never round until the final answer. If time remains then work on problems and then Jane and Joan.

  • Thur Apr 8 Go over $37 problems. Go over Jane and Joan extra credit (excel sheet) by using goal seek to discuss what interest rate would result in equal savings for them both. Do problems by hand and/or on Excel. Picture of Excel work, Excel work file, Picture of Excel solutions, Excel solution file. Go over main class web page and Ben Franklin writing project. Highlight the Dec 2002 $315 Powerball winner in Hurricane, West Virginia who had a choice of 30 annual payments or one lump sum payment of $170.5 million.
  • Mon Mar 29 Take questions. Sat Scores. Sound of the Big Bang. WebCT boxplot problems. Stats Detective.   Homer's Taxes. If time remains, work on homework for tomorrow or Thursday.

  • Tues Mar 30 Begin lump sum formula via compounding annually. Then compounding quarterly, and then the general lum sum formula. Compounding monthly. Real-life bank situation. Past student was told that her c.d. will be compounded monthly at 8% for 8 months, and is told that this 8% will apply each and every month. Let's say that she put in $1000. How much would her c.d. be worth at the end of 8 months if
    -the bank will compound 8% each and every month (ie 96% per year!)
    -the bank means that 8% is the annual rate.
    Which did the bank really mean?
    Then review for the stats test.

  • Thur Apr 1 Test 3.
  • Mon Mar 22 Lab Part 1   Part 2. If time remains, work on "Worth More's" or homework for tomorrow or Thursday (see main web page) such as the Heart of Math reading or WebCT quizzes.

  • Tues Mar 23 Review literary digest poll on Roosevelt/Landon election from 1937. Discuss linear regressions of Buchanon votes in Palm Beach and the butterfly ballot and highlight the problems with making predictions far away from your data. Discuss HIV testing issues and unintended consequences of medical and policy decisions such as testing everyone in the US for HIV

  • Thur Mar 25 Continue unintended consequences via raising airline prices as in the heart of math reading. Talk about Does SAT score predict college GPA? Discuss the fact that more than a dozen studies of large student groups and specific institutions such as MIT, Rutgers and Princeton conclude that young women typically earn the same or higher grades as their male counterparts in math and other college courses despite having SAT-Math scores 30-50 points lower, on average. Discuss gender and multicultural issues on test taking, and discuss stereotype vulnerability via students reading selections from FairTest Examiner Stereotypes Lower Test Scores, and Claude Steele has Scores to Settle. In groups of 2 or 3: Discuss situations where text anxiety or performance anxiety have hindered you. Discuss whether you or someone you know have ever experienced something similar to stereotype vulnerability as part of some kind of group (for example, gender, race, math phobic, "good" or "bad" student...) where external expectations from someone else (teacher, society, parents, friends... ) affected your performance in one way or another. Groups share their experiences with the class. Relate to MRT test. Discuss things we would like to see to back up the articles. Discuss how tv guide misrepresented stats for their advertising purposes. Take questions on the Statistics Test Study Guide and take questions on the WebCT quiz questions and the mean, median, mode lab.
  • Mon Mar 15 Collect hw. Go over distance from home bar chart and height bar chart, including how you can tell whether the mean will be above or below the mean. Discuss standard deviation (distance from home, height, untimed MRT). Go over Excel credit card checker. Mean, Median and Mode Lab

  • Tues Mar 16 Review bar charts and standard deviation via a bar chart of armspan containing mismeasurements, and discuss what happens when they are removed. Relate the idea of a scale balancing to the circle sampling hw limits. Histograms (distance from home with a class size of 50 and then 100), pie charts (class year), "bad" graphs. Intro to Boxplots via a boxplot of height separated by gender, and the meaning of boxplots. Boxplot of distance from home and of height separated by gender that includes outliers (ie how the boxplot changes when the outlier is removed).

  • Thur Mar 18 Discuss does Volume predict High in stock market. Music choices and compatibility issues (measuring "difference" in music tastes via looking at vertical distance between points) music 1 music 2. Begin linear regression via p. 211 # 11 by hand and compare to Excel work. Discuss the actual predictor value, the estimated predictor values from a graph or via a line fit by eye, and related issues. Heart of Math Interactive Histogram. Linear Regression worksheet.
  • Mon Mar 1 Lab Directions

  • Tues Mar 2 Look at summary of readings, review survey method guaranteeing complete anonymity from Heart of Math, use this method on an embarrasing but interesting survey question, and then we analyze the survey results. Perform the same survey method on a non-embarrasing question. Discuss the difference between a census and a survey. Then use the table of random digits to pick people from the class. Review What is a Mathematician? segment via the segment themes as they relate to the entire group of mathematicians. If time remains, then work on circle sampling problem.

  • Thur Mar 4 Test 2. Work on circle sampling problem. Work on Modular Arithmetic and Check Digit Homework
  • Mon Feb 23 Collect worksheets. Finish going over Ramanujan and his mathematics. Presentations and Worksheets on Paul Erdos and David Blackwell. Finish RSA Coding activities.

  • Tues Feb 24 Collect worksheets. Presentations and Worksheets on Mary Ellen Rudin, Frank Morgan, and Ingrid Daubechies.

  • Thur Feb 26 University cancelled classes due to snow.
  • Mon Feb 16 Presentations and Worksheets on Thomas Fuller and Maria Agnesi. Work on Dodge Ball and turn this in when you are finished. Question 1: Search the web for more information on AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics) and Carolyn Gordon's position within this organization. Answer this on a piece of paper. Question 2: Review Fifty-Five Culteral Reasons Why Too Few Women Win at Mathematics and relate both this and the statistics on women and minorities in mathematics from class on Tuesday to what we've learned about Carolyn Gordon and Dr. Sarah - how have they overcome barriers (discuss some specifics in each of their experiences) related to being a woman in mathematics in order to become successful mathematicians? Answer this on a piece of paper to turn in. If time remains, then complete the mathematician worksheets or web readings from the main web page.

  • Tues Feb 17 Collect worksheets. Presentations and Worksheets on Carl Friedrich Gauss and Sophie Germain. Finish Sophie Germain via RSA Coding, RSA on the internet via Bank of America's website, RSA Coding Continued, Decode the Message, and then search the web to find the meaning of the last word.

  • Thur Feb 19 Collect hw. Presentations and worksheets on Georg Cantor and Srinivasa Ramanujan. Pi activities.
  • Mon Feb 9 Review mathematician resources. Each group practices putting a picture into powerpoint by finding a picture of their mathematician from the web page references. Intro to The Pythagorean Theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem. Sleep the computers.   Andrew Wiles. If time remains, then work on mathematician project.

  • Tues Feb 10 Discuss the fact that in "The Proof" video, we saw very few women, and only heard about one woman working on the problem, and we saw no African Americans. Statistics on women and underrepresented minorities in mathematics. Worksheet on Andrew Wiles

  • Thur Feb 12 Discuss the concept of proof and possible answers to the related questions on the Andrew Wiles worksheet. Introduction to Carolyn Gordon and Hearing the Shape of a Drum. Work on the worksheet on Carolyn Gordon. Work on Dodge Ball.
  • Mon Feb 2 Shape of our Universe Lab and worksheet due at the end of lab. If time remains, then work on WebCT quizzes and see the main web page for study suggestions for Thursday's test.

  • Tues Feb 3 Jeff Weeks as a mathematician. Brief intro to my own research and how it fits into these ideas, and my mathematical style via powerpoint presentation (model for mathematician project). Review the 4th physical dimension and its applications, the hypercube via excerpts from Davide Cervone's Selected Course Notes Why the universe is not thought to be a hypercube, and some of the shapes that might be the shape of the universe: Euclidean 10 Euclidean possibilities, including Escher's "Another World" and the Futurama video reference to Escher's 1953 "Relativity" when Fry and Bender look for an apartment. Spherical a number of the infinite but known spherical possibilities via Davide Cervone's Spheres Sliced in 2D and 3D and excerpts from Week's paper on Topological Lensing in Spherical Spaces page 1, page 12, and the relationship to the Spherical Applet, and Hyperbolic current mathematical attempts to classify the hyperbolic possibilities, including the Weeks example, and current attempts to determine the shape of the universe.

  • Thur Feb 5 Test on Geometry of our Earth and Universe. Work on mathematician project (laptops are available) by looking at paper and web references . Discuss logistics and PowerPoint features for presentations
  • Mon Jan 26 Go over models of hyperbolic geometry. Go over the last part of the homework pre-readings. Take questions on the Computer Information Sheet. Work on 2-D Universes. Take first try of WebCT quiz using the WebCT Quizzes Sheet. If time remains, then work on the geometry report.

  • Tues Jan 27 Collect geometry reports and begin going over answers to the geometry of the earth questions (up through question 7).

  • Mon Jan 19 MLKJ Holiday

  • Tues Jan 20 Take questions on homework readings and collect the short essay. Discuss success in class. Discuss the difference between an A and B in terms of explanations. Go over answers to Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? Handout geometry of our earth and universe assignment. Class reads through the handout. Students form groups of 2 and exchange email and phone number info. Groups choose a problem (highlight fair division issues and let the students decide how to divide up problems which numerous groups want). Finish video from Thursday and discuss.

  • Thur Jan 22 Introduction to Hyperbolic Geometry. Take out geometry report and discuss the answers to some of the problems for hyperbolic geometry using Sketchpad.
          Sketchpad Problem 1 and 2       Problem 1 and 2 Image,
          Sketchpad Problem 3       Problem 3 Image      
          Sketchpad Problem 4       Problem 4 Image
          Sketchpad Problem 5 Postulate       Problem 5 Image
          Sketchpad Problem 7 Postulate       Problem 7 Image.
    Review web searching. On google.com, use Sarah Greenwald (many are different people). Then use the "-" feature to get rid of some of the unrelated pages. Compare with "Sarah Greenwald" (missing pages which have my middle initial or name in between, and there are still other people), Sarah Greenwald geometry, "Dr. Sarah" Greenwald, and Sarah Greenwald math* (allows for pages with mathematics or math in them) searches. (Finished here). On ebay.com, use an advanced search to search for simpson* birthday and contrast with simpson* birthday -tomy -o.j. -jessica -cd -dvd -vhs -games Search for simpsons birthday cards on ebay and google.
  • Mon Jan 12 Brief intro to the course, web pages, WebCT, and attendance policy. Begin geometry of our earth and universe by discussing how we see our world. Lab Directions (Perspective Drawing, Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D?, WebCT Survey)
    Handouts:
    Main Web Page
    Dr. Sarah's Office Hours
    Syllabus and Grading Policies
    Dr. Sarah's Computer Information Sheet
    Lab 1
    Perspective Worksheet
    Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D?
    Selections from Readings and Activities on Perspective Drawing and Projective Geometry

  • Tues Jan 13 Fill out information sheet. Review course webpages and summarize lab activities. Continue the topic of how we see our world. Review projective geometry, Simpsons 2-D or 3-D. Discuss "How could we tell that the earth is round instead of flat without using any technology (ie if we were ancient Greeks)"? Make a list of ideas on the board (part of web readings hw for Tuesday). Intro to Mercator maps and Escher. Worksheet on Escher. (number 2) 3-D Homer equation.

  • Thur Jan 15 PBS Life by the Numbers
    Selections cut from PBS Life by the Numbers Seeing is Believing Video (20 minutes): The first special effects ever created in Renaissance paintings also owe their existence to mathematics and spurred on the industrial revolution. Modern artists and mathematicians are trying to grapple with the 4th physical dimension. Mathematics helps define space and helps present visions of our world to us.
    Tom Banchoff as a mathematician.
    Shape of the World video: Hundreds of years before Columbus set sail, the Greeks used mathematics to determine the size and shape of the planet. Viewers see how mathematics has become a tool to explore the earth and the heavens as the world and the cosmos is charted. (45 minutes - stop at Jeff Weeks segment since we watched this part in lab.)