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Math 131 + SI -- Fall 2009 -- Prof. Michael G Neubauer

Instructor Information

Instructional Materials

Textbooks

Peter Tannenbaum, Excursions in Modern Mathematics. In addition, I will provide class notes that I post to the web page below after each meeting.

Class notes:

Electoral College and apportionment theory

Schedule

Quizzes

There will be short (~15 minutes) quizzes at the end of every Thursday SI meeting.

Final Exam

The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, December 15, 2008, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Homework

I will assign homework on a weekly basis. Groups of 3 people may and should hand in one homework assignment. Please be advised that homework counts for 20% of your grade. Correspondingly, I expect the homework you hand in to be of good quality which shows the pride you take in your work.

Homework assignments

Student Learning Objectives

Math 131 satisfies the mathematics requirement of the Basic Skills section of the General Education program.

Goal: Student will gain confidence in mathematical reasoning necessary for informed judgment and decision making. 

 

Policies

Attendance

This class will be very interactive and students need to make constant contributions to discussion and group work. Only you can make the contribution you need to make! For that to happen you have to be present. If such a format does not appeal to you please consider a different section of this course.

Grading

I will assign +/- grades.

Academic Dishonesty

CSUN's Student Conduct Code and Academic Dishonesty Policy will be fully enforced.

Accessibility

CSUN is actively revamping its Web presence to make the content universally accessible.

Accessible Technology Initiative

Course Information Overview

Course Description

Philosophy: Mathematics is part of the human experience. As such, mathematics is a worthy object of human curiosity and intellectual engagement. 

I do expect curiosity about the world around you and a willingness to engage in intellectually challenging activities.

 

Topics: The list of topics includes: apportionment theory, voting theory, graph theory, mathematics of money, and selected topics from statistics.In the text, this corresponds to Section 1; a bit of Sections 2 and 3; Sections 5, 6, and 7; Section 10; and selected topics from Sections 13, 14, and 15.  

 

Class: There will be very little of what you might call "lecturing". The class will be very interactive and you will be expected, asked, and challenged to make contributions to the class discussions. You will also be asked to research background information outside of class. You are required to attend the SI session that meet right after class in BH 300 and BH 302.

 

Project:Groups of up to four people will hand in a well-researched project on the effects of the 2010 census on the apportionment of the U.S. House of Representatives with special attention to the size of California's delegation. What this means will become clear after the first three weeks of the semester. The project can be a paper but it can also be a video, web page, play, etc. Be imaginative! Rubric

 

Articles of Interest

 

Course Resources

We will use the following resources during the first part of the course:

 

Course Prerequisites

To be eligible for enrollment in this course you have to have an ELM score of 34 to 48 and be concurrently enrolled in a Supplemental Instruction section.

Additional Resources

Here are links to resources for CSUN students: