Course Code : GEC-MMW (General Education Curriculum; Core Course)

Descriptive Title : Mathematics in the Modern World

Prerequisite : None

Credit Units : 3.0

Total Hours : 54 hours (3 hours/week x 18 weeks)

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Description

This course deals with nature of mathematics, appreciation of its practical, intellectual, and aesthetic dimensions, and application of mathematical tools in daily life.

This course begins with an introduction to the nature of mathematics as an exploration of patterns (in nature and the environment) and as an application of inductive and deductive reasoning. By exploring these topics, students are encouraged to go beyond the typical understanding of mathematics as merely a set of formulas but as a source of aesthetics in patterns of nature, for example, and a rich language in itself (and of science) governed by logic and reasoning.

The course then proceeds to survey ways in which mathematics provides a tool for understanding and dealing with various aspects of present day living, such as managing personal finances, making social choices, appreciating geometric designs, understanding codes used in data transmission and security, and dividing limited resources fairly. These aspects will provide opportunities for actually doing mathematics in a broad range of exercises that bring out the various dimensions of mathematics as a way of knowing and test the students’ understanding and capacity.

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Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

• Discuss and argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is expressed, represented, and used;

• Use different types of reasoning to justify statements and arguments made about mathematics and mathematical concepts;

• Discuss the language and symbols of mathematics;

Skills

• Use a variety of statistical tools to process and manage numerical data;

• Analyze codes and coding schemes used for identification, privacy, and security purposes;

• Use mathematics in other areas such as finance;

Values

• Appreciate the nature and uses of mathematics in everyday life; and,

• Affirm honesty and integrity in the appreciation of mathematics to various human endeavors.

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References

The following references were recommended by CHED. Download links are provided for freely available resources.

Chapter 1

• Ian Stewart. Nature's numbers: the unreal reality of mathematics. BasicBooks, New York, 1995.

• John Adam. Mathematics in nature: modeling patterns in the natural world. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2003.

• John Adam. A mathematical nature walk. Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2009.

Chapter 2

• Robert E. Jamison. Learning the language of mathematics. Language and Learning Across the Disciplines. 4 (2001), no. 1, 45 - 54, DOI: 10.37514/LLD-J.2000.4.1.06. [Available here; direct source available here]

• Dr. Carol J.V. Fisher Burns. One mathematical cat, please! Understanding calculus. http://onemathematicalcat.org, 1993. pp. 1 - 11. [Available here; direct source and full copy available here]

• The language and grammar of mathematics. [Available here; direct source available here]

Chapter 3

• Aufmann, R.N., Lockwood, J., Nation, R.D. and Clegg, D.K. Mathematical excursions. Cengage Learning, Belmont CA, 2012.

• Hersh, Reuben. What is mathematics, really?. Oxford University Press, 1997.

• Johnson, D.B. & Mowry, T.A. Mathematics: A practical odyssey. Cengage Learning, Belmont CA, 2012.

• Hans Magnus Enzensberger; Rotraut Susanne Berner & Michael Henry Heim. The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure. Metropolitan Books, 2000.

• Ian Stewart. Professor Stewart's cabinet of mathematical curiosities. Basic Books, New York NY, 2008.

• B. Averbach & O. Chein. Problem solving through recreational mathematics. General Publishing Company, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1980.

Chapter 4

• Aufmann, R.N., Lockwood, J., Nation, R.D. and Clegg, D.K. Mathematical excursions. Cengage Learning, Belmont CA, 2012.

• Johnson, D.B. & Mowry, T.A. Mathematics: A practical odyssey. Cengage Learning, Belmont CA, 2012.