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 Apr 28 Hand back test 3. Review lab on What is Mathematics?

  • Tues Apr 29 Collect personal reflection. Go over the review lab. Take questions on the final project. Present final project abstracts. DXC? Evaluations.
  • Mon Apr 21 Sound of the Big Bang, Statistics Detective review. Use the syllabus to give yourself a participation grade [out of 20 - many people will have a 16 here, but it depends on your absences, discussion during class, hw that received checks instead of grades, whether you were prepared for each class, etc] and message that to Dr. Sarah on ASULearn along with feedback 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).] Read through all the remaining links on the main web page. If time remains, then choose something to work on.

  • Tues Apr 22 Take questions for the statistics test. Share from the statistics in the media project.

  • Thur Apr 24 Test 3
  • Mon Apr 14 Heart of Math Interactive Histogram. Part 1   Part 2. Work on hw readings for Thursday or Project 5 for Monday.

  • Tues Apr 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...

  • Thur Apr 17 Share from Heart of Mathematics readings. Review literary digest poll on Roosevelt/Landon election from 1937. Discuss linear regressions of Buchanan 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 7 Representations of Data

  • Tues Apr 9 Give numbers and then use the random number sequence generator. Discuss Measures of Centers homework. Share from Chapter 3 Section 1 of How Do You Know. Skits on classroom success and related studies. Discuss ethics of data. We wish for many studies repeated by many people to attempt to isolate hidden, underlying issues. How should we personally and as a society respond (locally, globally) to statistical studies such as those that are environmental, like tuna fishing, etc.

  • Thur Apr 11 Collect hw. Finish skits and classwork from Tuesday. Review music choices and compatibility issues (measuring "difference" in music tastes via looking at vertical distance between points) music 1 music 2. Review Vietnam Draft info. Linear regression via does Volume predict High in stock market. Then do How Do You Know p. 185# 11. Discuss the actual predictor value, the estimated predictor values from a graph or via a line fit by eye, and related issues. Linear Regression worksheet and How Do You Know 3.4 #15 parts b) and c).
  • Mon Mar 31 Check your course average on ASULearn [Participation and the Final Project have just been estimated from last semester's class average, so yours may be lower or higher. Accommodations for extenuating circumstances have not been included in this average]. Look at extra credit opportunities on the main webpage. Collecting Data   Mathematics in the brain.

  • Tues Apr 1 Give each person a few minutes to come up with 1 truth and 1 lie, like [I play the violin. I was born in Charlotte, NC]. Use the random number sequence generator to call on students to come to the front of the room. Student gives name, and their statements, and the class decides. Relate to statistics. Stock bar graph and median, mean, and standard deviation. A bar chart of armspan containing mismeasurements, and discuss what happens when they are removed. Pie charts. Take questions on Ben F.

  • Thur Apr 3 Hand out Portions of the Class Data. Review bar chart from Tuesday including how you can tell whether the mean will be above or below the median. Random number from 1 to 10: poll and histogram. Excel analyses, including the observed value, the value expected if the data was equally distributed, the chi-square test and the p-value (are the observations statistically significant or can the differences be ascribed to random variations of chance?). Music choices and compatibility issues (measuring "difference" in music tastes via looking at vertical distance between points) music 1, music 2. December, 1969 Vietnam Draft, data, introduction to scatterplot, line of best fit, and boxplots. Starr [relate to the theme of shifting viewpoint, like Andrew Wiles]. Boxplot of height separated by gender that includes outliers (ie how the boxplot changes with the outlier is removed). "Bad graphs"
  • Thur Mar 27 Test 2
  • Mon Mar 17 Collect homework. Then work on the Condo lab. If time remains, work on
    1) Real-life rates homework for Tuesday
    2) ASULearn Anonymous Class Data Collection
    3) Stock market homework.
    4) ASULearn Material Review Questions

  • Tues Mar 18 Go over credit card statement and payday lender info. Go over ways to build good credit. additional class work

  • Thur Mar 20 Have students put up solutions to the How Do You Know problems. Intro to statistics via GE Study and line up by thumb size activity. Go over 4-6 on class work, and compare to table 2 and table 3 on the condo lab. Review for finance test. study guide
  • Mon Mar 3 Mention upcoming anonymous class data collection on ASULearn. 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 before we come back together, work on homework on the main webpage.

  • Tues Mar 4 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.

  • Thur Mar 6 Loan payment formula. Student loan statements. Discuss currency and debt in NC, the US, and the world. Condo work.
  • Mon Feb 25
    Danica McKeller (1975 - ) by Danielle, Gabriela, Morgan, and Sarah
    Magnetised Iron Bar
    Terrence Tao (1975 - ) by Cody, Kerry, and Sean
    Heart of Mathematics infinitely many primes, Arbitrarily Long Professions of Primes, Open Problems
  • 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 Feb 26
    Discuss 142 years compounding monthly versus annually. Each student comes up with their own formula. Discuss what you would do if you had $1 million to spend in 24 hours and the ethics of spending. 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 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.

  • Thur Feb 28 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 and to Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem (philosophy slides). 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.
  • Mon Feb 18
    Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519) by Katy, Meg, and Steve,
    Perspective Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Polyhedra, Vitruvian Man,
    Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) by Elisabeth, Maggie, and Martha,
    Worksheet and Statistical Presentations
    Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) by Lillian and Sommer,
    Sum of Two Cubes and Ramanujan's contributions and prime numbers.

  • Tues Feb 19
    David Blackwell (1919 - ) by Cara, Dana, Donlee, and Kelly
    Friend or Foe
    Mary Ellen Rudin (1924 - ) by Andrew, Joel, and Lauren Lilley
    Topology
    John Nash (1928 - ) by Allison, Lauren Fabri, and Rachel,
    Nash Equilibrium

  • Thur Feb 21
    Stephen Hawking (1942 - ) by Cat, Colleen, Deidra, and Sandi
    Quote, Stephen Hawking's Universe
    Karen Uhlenbeck (1942 - ) by Arden, Ginny Kirk, and Kayla,
    Slope of a Line, Slope = 0 equation, the idea of calculus, Equations of Nature
    Begin finance. How much money do you have with you?
  • Mon Feb 11 Hand back tests. Mention Project 3. The Proof A Nova video about Princeton University Professor Andrew Wiles and Fermat's Last Theorem. Fill out Andrew Wiles. Mathematician choice. If time remains, work on homework for Tuesday and Thursday.

  • Tues Feb 12 Share a web researched quote about what mathematics is and the person's name. Andrew Wiles worksheet. Work on Project 3.

  • Thur Feb 14 Go over test 1. Carolyn Gordon PowerPoint and Carolyn Gordon worksheet. Dr. Sarah gives groups feedback about Project 3 as groups work on their digital project.
  • Mon Feb 4 Class discussion about the homework readings. Universe lab. Take a try of ASULearn Material Review Quiz [participation requires at least one try of the quiz, but the specific grade is not used by Dr Sarah]. If time remains, work on the study guide

  • Tues Feb 5 Review activities. Play a section from Flatland the Movie. Review the 4th physical dimension and its applications, 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. Review current attempts including Cosmology News. Examine Curved Spaces. Group Juggle. Take questions on the study guide. If time remains, examine mathematicians.

  • Thur Feb 7 Test 1.
  • Mon Jan 28 Share something from the homework readings or last class. 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. Work on project 2. Organize the class into problems they are working on for discussions.

  • Tues Jan 29 Go over Project 2 problems, 1-7, and briefly discuss problems 8-11.

  • Thur Jan 31 Share from the readings. Jeff Weeks worksheet. I, Roommate from Futurama universe activity. 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 digital 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." Review the Pythagorean Theorem on the sphere by the Greenwaldian Theorem in Bender's Big Score.
  • Tues Jan 22 Where is North? Review Escher's space. Discuss a computer model of Escher's space called hyperbolic geometry.
          Sketchpad - Straight Lines 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). Name history. Discuss the problems in Project 2

  • Thur Jan 24 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. Class concentrates on what our universe looks like, how we know, and how we represent it. In addition, the class examines how the mathematicians discuss doing mathematics and where it comes from. Discuss the video. Hand back project 1 and go over the grading. Go over Are the Simpsons 2-D or 3-D? responses. PacMan sequence from Futurama (Anthology of Interest II) and a tiling view versus folding up the space (where PacMan would see his back). If time remains, review main web page including updated homework.
  • Mon Jan 14 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 prepare to share something to 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. ASULearn Postings. Meet our IAs Terrell Wilson and Andrew Wright as they shares responses to Part 1 of Project 1.

  • Tues Jan 15 Review and go over the syllabus. Picture permission form. 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. Advice from previous students about success in class via learning evaluations.

  • Thur Jan 17 Share something from the readings on perspective drawing or the round earth or that you learned last week. 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. Count number of letters in first name and pair up with someone who has the same number of letters and find something you have in common. Then share the names and the commonality. Reflect on the relationship to class - start with a topic, look at it from a mathematical viewpoint, find common patterns, and relate it back to real-life. If time remains, then work on Project 1 in groups.