Quantitative Reasoning
MATH 102
Practicing and applying quantitative reasoning: personal finance, consumer statistics, etc.
Quantitative Reasoning (MATH-102-M001)
Syllabus
Course Description
The course covers mathematical and statistical ideas which are essential to understanding quantitative situations. These ideas are:
. Proportional and fractional contexts (ratios, rates, unit conversions, etc.)
. Estimation and Precision
. Modeling
. Statistics
. Finance
Each of these ideas are presented and assessed in real-life situations so that students can connect them to their life.
General Education Learning Outcomes
The following are expected outcomes of BYU’s General Education program that are addressed in this course.
Knowledge and Skills
. Be able to demonstrate foundational knowledge and skills in the methods of investigating, expressing, and evaluating concepts in the following disciplines: Arts, History, Humanities and Languages, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences.
Communicate Effectively
. Communicate effectively with diverse audiences using written and visual media.
By Study and By Faith
. Describe relationships among General Education core concepts and the restored gospel.
Sound Thinking and Problem Solving
. Apply sound and original thinking to solve real-life problems.
. Collaborate effectively to solve problems and create ideas for the common good as a leader and as a participant.
. Examine and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of ideas and arguments, withholding judgment until having gathered sufficient information and considered relevant implications.
Life-long Learning
. Actively apply learning to contribute to the common good of society in solving family, professional, religious, and social problems.
Course Learning Outcomes
Cognitive
. Students will learn to reason with ratios and probabilities; model real world problems; estimate; interpret data and graphical representations; and will understand important basics of financial management.
. Students will evaluate the quantitative reasoning of others.
Skills
. Students will use spreadsheet software (e.g. Google Sheets and Excel) to summarize data and answer quantitative questions.
. Students will communicate quantitative reasoning through writing.
Affective
. Students will see the utility of quantitative reasoning in their everyday life.
. Students will believe that they and everyone else can develop quantitative reasoning skills.
Course Materials
Course materials are available within the course. Because the course is administered entirely online, you must have access to a computer to complete it. Exams are also online and must be taken at an approved test proctoring service where you will be required to show photo identification.
There is no need to purchase any particular book or resource for this course. The materials on this course site are copyrighted and permitted for use under the TEACH Act only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated.
Assignments
You will complete the following assignments during the course. See the Grades page for a breakdown of assignment weights.
Lesson quizzes
Each unit is made up of a number of lessons and each lesson has an associated quiz.
Each quiz will have about 5 questions on the material from that unit. You may re-take a lesson quiz up to five times if you are unhappy with the score you get. The highest score you receive will count toward your final grade. Note that questions will be randomly selected from a bank of questions when you re- take a lesson quiz. In other words, you will get an entirely different set of questions.
Projects
There will be a project for each unit.
The projects will require that you apply the quantitative reasoning concepts from the unit to address a real-life quantitative problem or question that you face. In some cases, you will have complete control over the substance of the problem that you address and will only be limited by the concepts in the
unit. In other cases, we have identified a universal problem that all students will address using the unique circumstances of their own life. Each project will be worth 20 points.
Proctored Midcourse and Final Exams
There is a proctored midcourse exam and a proctored final exam. You may use one of the calculators provided on-screen in the tests or you may bring your own calculator but not the calculator on your cell phone or programmable/graphing calculators. You may also bring and use blank scratch paper
that must be surrendered to the proctor or destroyed upon completion of the exam—whether or not you wrote on it.
Calculators and Internet Usage
Lesson Quizzes and Unit Tests
Because the purpose of this course is to help you use quantitative reasoning in everyday life, and
because everyday life grants you access to calculators and the internet, we will not restrict usage of either of these resources on the lesson quizzes or unit tests. You may use your phone, the internet, and any type of calculator for these assessments.
Proctored Midcourse and Final Exams
Your resources are restricted on the proctored exams. As mentioned above, you may bring your own calculator, but you may not use the calculator on your cell phone or a programmable/graphing
calculator. In some test questions, you will be provided a link to a particular website—you will only have access to those websites, not the entire internet.
Grading
Your grade in this course will be based on these assignments and exams.
|
Assignment or Exam
|
Grading
|
Percent of Total Grade
|
Resubmission
|
Fee to Resubmit
|
|
31 Lesson Quizzes
|
Computer
|
10%
|
0
|
NA
|
|
5 Unit Tests
|
Computer
|
15%
|
0
|
NA
|
|
5 Project Evaluations
|
Instructor
|
5%
|
0
|
NA
|
|
5 Unit Projects
|
Instructor
|
25%
|
0
|
NA
|
|
1 Proctored Midterm
|
Computer
|
20%
|
0
|
NA
|
|
1 Proctored Final Exam*
|
Computer
|
25%
|
0
|
NA
|
*You must pass the final exam to earn credit for the course; for extenuating circumstances, you may petition to retake the exam.
Grade scale
Your letter grade is calculated according to these percentages.
|
A
|
100–94
|
|
A−
|
93.9–90%
|
|
B+
|
89.9–87%
|
|
B
|
86.9–83%
|
|
B−
|
82.9–80%
|
|
C+
|
79.9–77%
|
|
C
|
76.9–73%
|
|
C−
|
72.9–70%
|
|
D+
|
69.9–67%
|
|
D
|
66.9–63%
|
|
D−
|
62.9–60%
|
|
E (fail)
|
59.9 and below
|