Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights

Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights 2005 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.

  • Wed May 4 Final Project Poster sessions, peer review, and course evaluations.
  • Mon Apr 25 review

  • Tues Apr 26 Collect Project 5. Go over material from lab on Monday. Each person shares their final project topic.
  • Mon Apr 18 SAT scores. Sound of the Big Bang Finish modular arithmetic and check digits. Statistics Detective review.

  • Tues Apr 19 Share something from the statistics in the media project. Take questions and review for the test. Discuss the final project.

  • Thur Apr 21 Test 3
  • Mon Apr 11 Heart of Math Interactive Histogram. Part 1 Part 2

  • Tues Apr 12 Discuss the effect of teacher expectations on students, ask students to share experiences where teacher expectation affected them, and then discuss related quotes from NCTM. Discuss biased MRT instructions and ask students to share their reactions to them. 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 Lawrence Summers comments and Carolyn Gordon's response. Mean, median and mode review. Begin Modular arithmetic and check digits.

  • Thur Apr 14 Discuss Heart of Math readings by asking the class to share something from the reading. 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. Unintended consequences via raising airline prices. Discuss HIV testing issues and unintended consequences of medical and policy decisions such as testing everyone in the US for HIV.
  • Mon Apr 4 Mean, Median, Mode lab

  • Tues Apr 5 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 does Volume predict High in stock market. Then do p. 211 # 11 on Excel. 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. Do p. 211 #11 by hand. Linear Regression worksheet and collect.

  • Thur Apr 7 Use class time to do research on project 4, 5, and the final project.
  • Thur Mar 31 Discuss bar charts including how you can tell whether the mean will be above or below the mean. Discuss standard deviation (distance from home, height, untimed MRT), a bar chart of armspan containing mismeasurements, and discuss what happens when they are removed. 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).
  • Mon Mar 21 Review Ben Franklin lab answers and take questions on it. Condo lab

  • Tues Mar 22 Go over homework and take questions. Finish Condo lab and then work on the study guide

  • Thur Mar 24 Test 2
  • Mon Mar 14 Discuss homework readings. Collecting Data Discuss Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers comments about innate abilities of women in mathematics and science. Mathematics in the brain. Gender differences on the MRT and the timed and untimed MRT test. Carolyn Gordon's response.

  • Tues Mar 15 Loan payment formula. Student loan statements. Condo work.

  • Thur Mar 17 Go over credit card statement and payday lender info. Go over real-life rates and ways to build good credit. Finish condo work and then Work on HDYK p. 92-94 numbers 9, 14, 21 and 24, and p. 103 number 8 and be prepared to present them next week.
  • Mon Feb 28 University Cancelled Classes Lisa's Thrifty Savers savings account from Bart the Fink. Ben Franklin's Will - Part 1.

  • Tues Mar 1 Go over Ben F activities. 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 Mar 3 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 Feb 21 Presentations on Rudin, Morgan, and Daubechies.

  • Tues Feb 22 Finish up the thematic issues of the mathematician segment. Begin finance by talking about interest. Discuss simple interest, different interest bearing accounts, and taxes.
    origins of banking
    origins of banking
    cuneiform   babylonian   interest        
    CUNEIFORM TABLET
    usury   interest   Babylonian   money        
    Usury is Piracy
    Quotes on taxes.
    Watch Homer get into tax trouble in Trouble with Trillions. Search for Homer's paycheck and then fill out a tax return together for Homer Simpson. Discuss advice for Homer based on the episode. If time remains, begin compound interest.

  • Thur Feb 24 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?
    Discuss other possibilities for unknowns in the lump sum formula - the time length, the rate, or the number of times compounding per year, and set up the Simpsons thrifty saver account for Monday.
  • Mon Feb 14 Presentations on Fuller, Agnesi, Gauss, and Germain. After each mathematician, go over related mathematics by answering the questions on the handout, using the web references. RSA Coding Continued, Decode the Message, and then search the web to find the meaning of the last word.

  • Tues Feb 15 Presentations on Cantor and Ramanujan. DodgeBall worksheet Cantor worksheet.

  • Thur Feb 17 Presentations on Erdos and Blackwell. Erdos worksheet.
  • Mon Feb 7 Discuss the What is Mathematics readings. Andrew Wiles

  • Tues Feb 8Discuss 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. Andrew Wiles worksheet.

  • Thur Feb 10 Carolyn Gordon PowerPoint Carolyn Gordon worksheet
  • Mon Jan 31 Shape of our Universe

  • Tues Feb 1 Introduction to PowerPoint. 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: 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. Complete the related Futurama worksheet. 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. The differences between the geometries and current attempts to determine the shape of the universe. If time remains, review Escher, Banchoff, and Weeks themes related to the Mathematician segment.

  • Thur Feb 3 Test 1
  • Mon Jan 24 Pre-readings   2D Universe lab   Use the WebCT quizzes sheet

  • Tues Jan 25 Collect geometry reports and begin going over answers to the geometry of the earth questions.

  • Thur Jan 27 Students review answers to the earth questions. Assign mathematician project. Selections cut from PBS Life by the Numbers: Seeing is Believing Video: 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: Viewers see how mathematics has become a tool to explore the heavens as the cosmos is charted.
  • Mon Jan 17 MLKJ Holiday

  • Tues Jan 18 Discuss success in class. Discuss the difference between an A and B in terms of explanations. Share something from the homework readings. Handout geometry of our earth and universe assignment. Discuss some of the answers for hyperbolic geometry.
          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 models of hyperbolic geometry. Class reads through the geometry of the earth and universe assignment. 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). 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. 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.

  • Thur Jan 20 Hand back lab 1 and ask students to share something from their answers to questions 1 or 2. Go over Are the Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? responses including the model who disappears from The Simpsons"Sleeping with the Enemy." Time to work on the geometry report.
  • Mon Jan 10 What are the "liberal arts"? Fill out index sheets. Introductions. Brief intro to the course. Begin geometry of our earth and universe by discussing what our world looks like, how we know, and how we represent it. 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. Watch video excerpts and discuss: Life By the Numbers Shape of the World (maps of the earth) and Seeing is Believing (perspective). Syllabus and Grading Policies and attendance policy. Hand out Lab 1 assignment and Office Hours and discuss homework. Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? which will be count as part of lab 1.

  • Tues Jan 11 Review. Escher and the sum of the angles of a triangle in his work. Sun and Moon.   Worksheet on Escher.   (number 2).   Quotes from Escher on how he does mathematics and where it comes from. Introduction to Hyperbolic Geometry

  • Thur Jan 13 Share something from the readings on perspective drawing. Click on the web Readings and Activities on Perspective Drawing and Projective Geometry and follow along with Dr. Sarah. Be sure to fill in the paper copy of the worksheet as you go along. 3-D Homer equation.