This week we've started the unit on Financial Mathematics. You will need your calculator every day for this unit, so be sure to bring it with you to class. We will begin with simple interest and compound interest this week. Next week we will talk about credit card loans, annuities, and other types of loans.
Midterm grades were posted this week. Please be sure to check your midterm grade. You can see the break down of your grade on Moodle. If you have any questions about your grade, please see me in office hours.
Challenge Problem: Suppose you invest $1000 in an account earning a simple interest rate of 20%. If you invest another $1000 into an account earning an interest rate of 5%, compounded quarterly, when will the two accounts reach the same balance?
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
October 19 - 23: Statistics
This week, we have finished our unit on Probability and Statistics. Your exam will be on Friday, October 23. This unit is generally the most difficult one for students; please make sure you allow adequate time to study for this exam! Take advantage of the extra problems provided in the exam review and the Probability and Statistics Worksheets on the right hand of the blog.
For your blogs this week, please visit the site below. This website provides many applets to model probability experiments. Of particular interest to you may be the examples under "Finite Sampling Models", "Dice", and "Games of Chance". Play with 2 or 3 of the applets and in your blog, describe the applets you chose. How do they model the probability experiment? How could you actually find the probabilities being modeled?
Probability Applets
Challenge Problem: Research the Monty Hall problem and write a 2-3 paragraph summary of the problem, explaining how to determine whether you should switch doors or not. Were you surprised by the probability in this problem? Be sure to give your references.
For your blogs this week, please visit the site below. This website provides many applets to model probability experiments. Of particular interest to you may be the examples under "Finite Sampling Models", "Dice", and "Games of Chance". Play with 2 or 3 of the applets and in your blog, describe the applets you chose. How do they model the probability experiment? How could you actually find the probabilities being modeled?
Probability Applets
Challenge Problem: Research the Monty Hall problem and write a 2-3 paragraph summary of the problem, explaining how to determine whether you should switch doors or not. Were you surprised by the probability in this problem? Be sure to give your references.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Probability and Statistics Review
Our probability and statistics exam will be in class on Friday, October, 23. The link below is to the probability and statistics review worksheet. Please try all of these problems and be prepared on Wednesday to ask any questions you have over them.
Probability and Statistics Review Worksheet
Probability and Statistics Review Worksheet
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
October 12 - October 16: Statistics
This week we will be focusing our attention on statistics. At this point, you should be able to do WebWork assignments 3 and 4. Hopefully, by reading the slate article last week, you have a better appreciation for why statistics is an important topic to study. Regardless of your major, you will encounter statistics in many forms throughout your life. I hope that what we discuss in this section will help you to make sense of the statistics you see outside of this class.
We will be using the table linked below to calculate areas under a normal curve with z-scores. Please make sure to print a copy for yourself.
z-score table
Challenge Problem: In 2007, when she was a high school senior, Eleanor scored 680 on the mathematics part of the SAT. The distribution of 2007 SAT math scores was a normal distribution with mean 515 and standard deviation 14.. Gerald took the ACT math test and scored 27 in 2007. ACT math scores were normally distributed with mean 21 and standard deviation 5.1 in 2007. Assuming that both tests measure the same kind of ability, who had the higher score? Explain your reasoning and show all work.
We will be using the table linked below to calculate areas under a normal curve with z-scores. Please make sure to print a copy for yourself.
z-score table
Challenge Problem: In 2007, when she was a high school senior, Eleanor scored 680 on the mathematics part of the SAT. The distribution of 2007 SAT math scores was a normal distribution with mean 515 and standard deviation 14.. Gerald took the ACT math test and scored 27 in 2007. ACT math scores were normally distributed with mean 21 and standard deviation 5.1 in 2007. Assuming that both tests measure the same kind of ability, who had the higher score? Explain your reasoning and show all work.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
October 5 - October 9
This week we will continue to discuss probability. These problems can be very tricky for students, so you'll want to spend some time practicing outside of class. Be sure to ask lots of questions during class!
For this week's blog, in addition to the fill in the blanks, you should read the article linked below and give a brief (2-3 sentence) response to it.
Take a Statistics Class
Challenge Problem: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the
probability that a randomly selected worker primarily drives a
car to work is 0.867. The probability that a randomly selected
worker primarily takes public transportation to work is 0.048.
(a) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker primarily
drives a car or takes public transportation to work?
(b) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker
neither drives a car nor takes public transportation to
work?
(c) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker does
not drive a car to work?
(d) Can the probability that a randomly selected worker walks to
work equal 0.15? Why or why not?
For this week's blog, in addition to the fill in the blanks, you should read the article linked below and give a brief (2-3 sentence) response to it.
Take a Statistics Class
Challenge Problem: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the
probability that a randomly selected worker primarily drives a
car to work is 0.867. The probability that a randomly selected
worker primarily takes public transportation to work is 0.048.
(a) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker primarily
drives a car or takes public transportation to work?
(b) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker
neither drives a car nor takes public transportation to
work?
(c) What is the probability that a randomly selected worker does
not drive a car to work?
(d) Can the probability that a randomly selected worker walks to
work equal 0.15? Why or why not?
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Probability Out of Class Assignment for 10/02/15
You should read the notes on Probability and watch the video above. Then answer the questions on the worksheet below. I will collect your solutions in class on Monday, October 5.
Out of Class Assignment 10/02/2015
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