Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights

Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights Fall 2004 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 Dec 6 Call on students to present HDYK p. 92-94 numbers 9, 14, 21 and 24, and p. 103 number 8. review.

  • Tues Dec 7 Go over selections from lab. Go over real-life rates and ways to build good credit. Student evaluations. Discuss final, hand out take home portion, and take questions.
  • Mon Nov 29 Go over test revisions and Ben F lab answers. Take questions on web based problems. Condo and Car lab

  • Tues Nov 30 Go over hw 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. Go over hw 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? How much more do I pay in total? Next, 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, read through the Ben F. handouts.

  • Thur Dec 2 Go over credit card statement and payday lender info. Work on HDYK p. 92-94 numbers 9, 14, 21 and 24, and p. 103 number 8.
  • Mon Nov 22 Discuss class structure. Mention condo work we will do in class tomorrow. Read through Ben Franklin's Will - Web Readings and the writing assignment. Decide whether you want to work alone or with 1 other person and come up with a paper outline. Type this into Word and turn in 1 per group that includes your names and your proposed structure (by attaching it onto the WebCT bulletin board containing you and I). Next work on searching for real-life rates (see the main web page). When you are finished, you can work on test revisions.

  • Tues Nov 23 Loan payment formula. Student loan statements. Condo work.
  • Mon Nov 15
    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.

  • Tues Nov 16 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 Nov 18 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 Nov 8 Sound of the Big Bang WebCT boxplot problems. Stats Detective.   Homer's Taxes.

  • Tues Nov 9 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 Nov 11Stats test
  • Mon Nov 1 Part 1 Part 2

  • Tues Nov 2 Discuss Heart of Math readings. 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.

  • Thur Nov 4 Sound of the Big Bang SAT scores. 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 lab. If time remains then begin Homer's taxes.
  • Mon Oct 25 Past distance from home and present distance from home 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). Mean median mode.

    Tues Oct 26 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 Oct 28 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..
  • Mon Oct 18 Lab Directions

  • Tues Oct 19 Take questions on the mathematician segment. Go over expectations in mathematics learning and relate to mentoring in mathematics. Go over ids perspectives. Discuss homework readings - each person in the class shares something different. If time remains, then begin presentations of data and "bad" graphs.

  • Thur Oct 21 Test 2

  • Mon Oct 11 Collect worksheets. Presentations and Worksheets on Paul Erdos and David Blackwell. Class Data Collection

  • Tues Oct 12 Collect worksheets. Presentations and Worksheets on Mary Ellen Rudin, Frank Morgan, and Ingrid Daubechies. If time remains, then go over expectations in mathematics learning and relate to mentoring in mathematics.

  • Thur Oct 14 Fall Break.
  • Mon Oct 4 Presentations and Worksheets on Thomas Fuller and Maria Agnesi. 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 - 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? WebCT quiz.

  • Tues Oct 5 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 Oct 7 Collect hw. Presentations and worksheets on Georg Cantor and Srinivasa Ramanujan. Pi activities.
  • Mon Sep 27 Andrew Wiles worksheet.

  • Tues Sep 28 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 Sep 30 Review the mathematician project assignment. Discuss the concept of proof and possible answers to the related questions on the Andrew Wiles worksheet. Begin data collection issues - relate to WMAP data issues. Discuss the difference between a census and a survey. Discuss whether it was fair to use a coin toss when we chose groups. Then use the table of random digits to pick people from the class. Work on the Circle Sampling Problem. Time to work on test revisions and the mathematician project as Dr. Sarah gives feedback on the bullet points.
  • Mon Sep 20 Shape of our Universe lab   worksheet

  • Tues Sep 21 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. The differences between the geometries and current attempts to determine the shape of the universe.

  • Thur Sep 23 Test on Geometry of our Earth and Universe


  • Mon Sep 13 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.

  • Tues Sep 14 Introduction to Powerpoint. Carolyn Gordon PowerPoint Carolyn Gordon worksheet

  • Thur Sep 16 Discuss the homework readings. Discuss some of the thematic issues for M.C. Escher, Tom Banchoff, Jeff Weeks, and Tony Robbins. Divide up the mathematicians. Hand out references for mathematicians. Work on Modular Arithmetic and Check Digits and work on the mathematician project by looking at the paper and web references.


  • Mon Sep 6 Labor Day Holiday

  • Tues Sep 7 Hand out geometry report part 2. Collect geometry reports and begin going over answers to the geometry of the earth questions.

  • Thur Sep 9 Students go over answers to the geometry of the earth questions and then we discuss answers to the geometry of the universe questions. Discuss Are the Simpsons 2-D or 3-D. Watch video. 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. Jeff Weeks as a mathematician.
  • Mon Aug 30 Lab 1 At the end of lab bring everyone back together. 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. Perform a seaarch for the diameter of the earth. If time remains, then begin dodgeball or Tuesday.

  • Tues Aug 31 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. 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.
    Discuss 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).

  • Thur Sep 2 Work on Dodge Ball and search for resources for the geometry project.
  • Tues Aug 24 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 Mathematical Experiences assignment and Office Hours and discuss homework.

  • Thur Aug 26 Collect hw. Ask students to share something from their answers to questions 1 or 2. 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. Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? which will be count as part of lab 1. 3-D Homer equation.