Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights

Dr. Sarah's Math 1010 Class Highlights
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 3 Hand back and go over test 3. What is Mathematics

  • Tues Dec 4 Collect personal reflection. Go over the review lab. Take questions on the final project. Present final project abstracts. Evaluations.
  • Mon Nov 26 Sound of the Big Bang, Statistics Detective review. Read through all the remaining links on the main web page. If time remains, then choose something to work on.

  • Tues Nov 27 Share from the statistics in the media project. Go over WebCT quiz questions that are turned in as homework. Review for statistics test. If time remains, relate DXC quotes to personal reflection.

  • Thur Nov 29 Test 3
  • Mon Nov 19 Use the syllabus and your grades on WebCT to estimate your course average [assume that you will receive a 14/15 on your final project]. Show Dr. Sarah and then send a posting on WebCT that includes your participation grade [out of 20 - most people will have a 16 here], your test average [convert this to a grade out of 35], your project average [convert this to a grade out of 30], your final average as it stands now, and feedback from you on group work effectiveness [if you feel you deserve the same grades as your partners, just say so. If not, please explain why you deserve a higher or lower grade and specify which project(s) this relates to and the name(s) of your partner(s).] Case studies on success. If time remains before we come back together, work on homework for tomorrow (see the main web page).

  • Tues Nov 20 Share from Heart of Mathematics 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.
  • Mon Nov 12 Heart of Math Interactive Histogram. December, 1969 Vietnam Draft, data. Part 1 Part 2

  • Tues Nov 13 Name history. True that double true icebreaker using yarn. Hold one end of the ball of yarn. Throw to someone, saying their name, and ask two questions, holding onto the yarn, one related to mathematics and the other related to something else. When the person answers the questions, if there are others in the class who agree with them, say "true that". If you strongly agree, say "true that/double true". Everyone continues to hold onto the yarn as it is thrown to other people who have not had it yet - the questions can change. Take questions on the Ben Franklin project.

  • Thur Nov 15 Begin modeling critiques for Project 5 via the theme of success in mathematics: 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 the SAT and whether the SAT should predict college scores. 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. Women in math stats and studies, Representations of mathematicians, American Competitiveness, Leaving Boys Behind...
  • Mon Nov 5 Measures of Center If time remains before the class discussion, work on upcoming homework or class projects.

  • Tues Nov 6 Discuss homework. 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 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 Nov 8 Collect hw. 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. Discuss the actual predictor value, the estimated predictor values from a graph or via a line fit by eye, and related issues. Go over the Ben Franklin criteria. Linear Regression worksheet and HDYK 3.4 #15 parts b) and c).
  • Mon Oct 29 Go over Web Problem. Then work on the Condo lab. If time remains, work on homework for Tuesday.

  • Tues Oct 30 Collect homework. Finish the Condo lab and work on 8.5x11 sheet with writing on both sides. Do the Interview Activity. Go over work and take questions on the WebCT quiz, etc.

  • Thur Nov 1 Test 2
  • Mon Oct 22 Collecting Data   Mathematics in the brain.

  • Tues Oct 23 Loan payment formula. Student loan statements. Condo work.

  • Thur Oct 25Go over credit card statement and payday lender info. Go over ways to build good credit. Finish condo work and then work on HDYK Exercise Set 1.2 #9, 14, 21, 24 and Exercise Set 1.3 #8, 11 and be prepared to present them next week.
  • Mon Oct 15 Intro to Goal Seek and Solver in Excel via Lisa's Thrifty Savers savings account from Bart the Fink.   Ben Franklin's Will - Part 1. If time remains, work on the Class Data Collection Sheet and the Stock HW.

  • Tues Oct 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 periodic payment understanding 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. If time remains then work on problems and then Jane and Joan.

  • Thur Oct 18 Go over $37 problems and formulas. 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 Oct 8 Frank Morgan (195?-) - Jennifer, Katie, and Rachel
    Ingrid Daubechies (1954-) - Casey, Kuldeep, and Matt
    Dr. Sarah (1969-) - Kristi and Zach
    Compute the area of a square and cube with perimeter/circumference of 4pi.   Shape of Bubbles   Double Bubble
  • digital image   pollen   pollen 2   Yoda   JPG vs wavelets   create a digital image
  • Finish up the thematic issues of the mathematician segment.
    Discuss simple interest, different interest bearing accounts, and taxes.
    cuneiform   babylonian   interest        
    CUNEIFORM TABLET
    Plimpton Cuneiform 322 and interpreting data
    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 segment.

  • Tues Oct 9 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?
    What did the bank really mean?
    Discuss 142 years compounding monthly versus annually. Each student comes up with their own formula. 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. Group Juggle. Reflect and relate to information coming in during finance and stats.

  • Mon Oct 1
    Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) - Liz and Samantha
    Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) - Ron and Trey
    Sophie Germain (1776-1831) - Ashley, Jerome, and Kendra
    Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) - Alex and Sabrina
  • Gauss and Non-Euclidean geometry
  • Sophie Germain primes and Decoding the Message p. 95 Heart of Matheamtics.
  • DodgeBall worksheet

  • Tues Oct 2
    Georg Cantor (1845-1918) - Andrew and Brooke
    Root 66. p. 110 Heart of Mathematics. Apu and pi. Review DodgeBall and use it for the Cantor worksheet. p. 162 Heart of Mathematics.
    Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - Heather, Kristen, and Sarah
    Einstein's Explanation, Einstein Exhibit.

  • Thur Oct 4
    Mary Ellen Rudin (1924-) - Josh and Tiffany
    Topology
    Fern Hunt (194?-) - Anita, Anna, and Jessie
    Visualizing DNA   Campylobacter jejuni   E. Coli
    Stephen Hawking (1942-) - Josh and Graham
    Quote, Stephen Hawking's Universe
    If time remains, group juggle.
  • Mon Sep 24 Hand back tests. Mention mathematician paper references, web reference posting on WebCT, and Powerpoint tips. Intro to video, The Proof A Nova video about Princeton University Professor Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem. Fill out Andrew Wiles. If time remains, work on homework for Tuesday or Thursday.

  • Tues Sep 25 Go over test. Share a web researched quote about what mathematics is and the person's name. Andrew Wiles worksheet. Work on the Dodge Ball worksheet.

  • Thur Sep 27 Search for a picture for Jeff Weeks. Demonstrate inserting a picture into PowerPoint, saving it as lastname.ppt and uploading it to the WebCT bulletin board. Carolyn Gordon PowerPoint and Carolyn Gordon worksheet. If time remains look at additional extensions of the Pythagorean Theorem: FLT intro and Scarecrow's Theorem.
  • Mon Sep 17 Class discussion about the homework readings. Geometry of the universe. Take a try of WebCT quiz 2. If time remains, work on the study guide.

  • Tues Sep 18 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. Copyright statement. 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, including Cosmology News. Take questions on the study guide.

  • Thur Sep 20 Test 1
  • Mon Sep 10 Share something from the homework readings or last class. Mention the Computer Information Sheet. Try to download Torus Games. Discuss Game: Tic-Tac-Toe, Options: Human vs. Human, Topology: Torus or Klein Bottle. If that doesn't work, use web version. 2D Universes and class discussion on worksheet. Take a try of WebCT quiz 1. Hand back Project 2 and discuss Project 3.

  • Tues Sep 11 Class discussion on homework readings. Discuss the torus tiling view and the Klein tiling view. Hand out the Jeff Weeks worksheet. Prepare to share something you found interesting from the text, and why you chose what you did, and complete the activities. Then examine study guide for test 1 to work on during class.

  • Thur Sep 13 Class discussion on homework readings and hyperbolic homework. Go over the remainder of the questions on project 2. My research and the relationship to the shape of the universe. Brief intro to my own research and how it fits into these ideas, and my mathematical style in a powerpoint presentation that is a model for the next segment. Highlight the theme of diverse ways to succeed in mathematics and "making the material your own." Discuss the mathematician segment. Mention PowerPoint Tips and other digital presentation options. If time remains, do Who Am I?
  • Tues Sep 4 Collect geometry reports and begin going over answers to the earth questions.

  • Thur Sep 6 Research for a quote about mathematics and on mathematicians.
  • Mon Aug 27 Share something from the readings on perspective drawing or the round earth or that you learned last week. Meet our IA Zachary Beam as he shares some of his responses to Project 1. Go through Readings and Activities on Perspective Drawing and Projective Geometry. Be sure to fill in the paper copy of the worksheet as the material is presented. IRB form. If time remains, then work on Project 1.

  • Tues Aug 28 Review Escher's space. Discuss a computer model of Escher's space called hyperbolic geometry.
          Sketchpad - Straight Lines in Hyperbolic Geometry       Image.
    Discuss Playfair's Postulate.
          Sketchpad - Parallels in Hyperbolic Geometry       Image
    Discuss the sum of the angles in a triangle as well as the Pythagorean Theorem in Hyperbolic geometry via the hyperbolic worksheet. Discuss physical models of small pieces of hyperbolic space. Extra credit crochet model of hyperbolic geometry (for me to keep). Discuss the problems in Project 2

  • Thur Aug 30 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. Discuss the video. Hand back project 1 and go over the grading. Go over Are the Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? responses including the PacMan sequence from Futurama (Anthology of Interest II) and a tiling view versus folding up the space (where PacMan would see his back). Review main web page including updated homework. Mention learning evaluations again.
  • Tues Aug 21 Fill out index sheets. Introductions. Brief intro to the course. Begin geometry of our earth and universe. 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. Perform a related web search. Watch video excerpts and discuss: Life By the Numbers Shape of the World (maps of the earth) and Seeing is Believing (perspective). Highlight the questions of what our world looks like, how we know, and how we represent it. Begin Project 1 with Are The Simpsons 2-D or 3-D?. Discuss course via the main web page, Syllabus and Grading Policies, and attendance policy. Mention office hours. If time remains, then time to work on project 1.

  • Thur Aug 23 Review and go over the syllabus. 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. Discuss whether mathematics arises from nature or whether we impose our mathematical discoveries onto nature. Choose a random number between 1 and 10. Discuss and relate to where mathematics comes from. Advice from previous students about success in class via learning evaluations.