Welcome to Seminar Two
Percentages (MTH108)
Weekly Content - Percentages
Percentages will be our primary topic this week. In terms of people's daily lives, this is one of the most practical concepts that we'll be covering. Percentages appear in a wide variety of places including sales tax, grades and commissions. Be sure to take a look at the additional resources I've posted in the Course Discussion forum. That post includes links to a variety of videos and written material that I think you'll find helpful.
Weekly Motivation
In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.[1]
-- John von Neumann
von Neumann's comment will be one of our topics in the discussion board this week. I think his approach sums up the way many people feel toward mathematics but it also points us toward an approach that you can use to improve your performance. They key to "getting used to" something is experience with it. The best thing you can do for yourself in a technical course like this one is working lots of problems. You should also be sure to ask questions when you come across problems you don't understand. I added the "What's Puzzling Me Thread" in the discussion board to give everyone a place to post those questions.
[1] Reply to Felix T. Smith who had said "I'm afraid I don't understand the method of characteristics." —as quoted in The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (1984) by Gary Zukav footnote in page 208.
-- John von Neumann
von Neumann's comment will be one of our topics in the discussion board this week. I think his approach sums up the way many people feel toward mathematics but it also points us toward an approach that you can use to improve your performance. They key to "getting used to" something is experience with it. The best thing you can do for yourself in a technical course like this one is working lots of problems. You should also be sure to ask questions when you come across problems you don't understand. I added the "What's Puzzling Me Thread" in the discussion board to give everyone a place to post those questions.
[1] Reply to Felix T. Smith who had said "I'm afraid I don't understand the method of characteristics." —as quoted in The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (1984) by Gary Zukav footnote in page 208.
Private Discussion Areas
If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the discussion board in our private discussion area. Doing so will tell Blackboard to send you an email every time I post something there. Every week I'll post a summary of your previous week's grades there and you'll be responsible for following up on any comments that I make. You can access our private discussion area by clicking on the Feedback/Groups button on the left side of this page then clicking on your name, then Group Discussion Board then your name again.
Discussion Posts
As you work on this week's discussion, remember that I'm looking for specifics, not generalities. For example, if you're asked for an example of how a technique or concept is used in the real world, you should give a specific example not just a single general statement. For example,
"I use fractions when cooking."
isn't the kind of post that I'm looking for. This is the kind of college level response that I'm expecting:
"I use fractions when changing the yield of recipes. For example, if a recipe provides food for four, I would need to cut that down to two to feed myself and my son. To do that I would take every ingredient and divide it by two (or multiply it by one half). That would make, for example, 3 cups of flour into (1/2) * 3 = 3/2 or 1 1/2 cups."
"I use fractions when cooking."
isn't the kind of post that I'm looking for. This is the kind of college level response that I'm expecting:
"I use fractions when changing the yield of recipes. For example, if a recipe provides food for four, I would need to cut that down to two to feed myself and my son. To do that I would take every ingredient and divide it by two (or multiply it by one half). That would make, for example, 3 cups of flour into (1/2) * 3 = 3/2 or 1 1/2 cups."
Getting Help
The University offers a live tutoring service to all students. If you feel you need to actually speak to someone about your questions, you can set up an appointment with the Online Math Center by clicking on the "Learning Support Center" button on the left side of this page. That will take you to a form that you can fill out to be contacted by one of the math center's tutors.
Professor Gregory Allen
Email: gallen06@baker.edu
Website: http://www.whitecraneeducation.com
Location: Skype: prof.gregory.allen
Phone: 813.995.8622