An appropriate selection for mathematical literacy

books:

	• Understanding Our Quantitative World (Classroom Resource Materials) Janet Andersen & Todd Swanson The Mathematical Association of America, 2005 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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An appropriate selection for mathematical literacy

This book contains most of the fundamentals of quantitative literacy, providing the basics for college mathematics beyond the level of simple algebra. The fourteen chapters can be split into the two categories of the description of functions used in a precalculus course and data analysis found in a basic statistics course. After each topic is introduced, there is a set of reading questions followed by a set of activities and class exercises. Solutions to these exercises are not included, which is a major weakness of the book.
The topics are all appropriate for a survey course in mathematical literacy. I teach a general education course in finite mathematics and consider the material in this book to be a far better selection for a general education course. The explanations are well done and easy to follow and the exercises involve topics and principles that the students will relate to.
This book is an excellent resource for teachers of fundamental mathematics and I recommend it as a textbook for a survey course if that is your need. It can also serve as a repository of good examples and exercises if the structure of your course is not a proper match of the organization of the book.

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This book is intended for a general education mathematics course. The authors focus on the topics that they believe students will likely encounter after college. These topics fall into the two main themes of functions and statistics. After the concept of a function is introduced and various representations are explored, specific types of functions (linear, exponential, logarithmic, periodic, power, and multivariable) are investigated. These functions are explored symbolically, graphically, and numerically and are used to describe real world phenomena. On the theme of statistics, the authors focus on different types of statistical graphs and simple descriptive statistics. Linear regression, as well as exponential and power regression, is also introduced. Simple types of probability problems as well as the idea of sampling and confidence intervals are the last topics covered in the text. The book is written in a conversational tone. Each section begins by setting the mathematics within a context and ends with an application. The questions at the end of each section are called "Reading Questions" because students are expected to be able to answer most of these after carefully reading the text. "Activities and Class Exercises" are also found at the end of each section. These activities are taken from public sources such as newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. Doing these activities demonstrates that mathematics can be used as a tool in interpreting quantitative information encounterred in everday life. . The text assumes that students will have access to some type of technology such as a graphing calculator.

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