The Mathematics Department is dedicated to ensuring that each student at the Community College of Aurora achieves two primary goals: the ability to reason quantitatively and to think in abstract terms.
QUANTITATIVE REASONING
Barry Bonds recently surpassed Babe Ruth’s career total of 714 homeruns.
Gasoline prices may reach as high as $4.00 per gallon in the US.
They’re about $7.80 per gallon in England, or almost twice as much.
The national debt of the United States is more than $8,000,000,000,000.
That’s about $27,000 each for every man, woman and child living in the US.
63.4 million people voted for the last American Idol.
That’s 52% of the number of people who voted in the 2004 Presidential election.
All of these numbers by themselves would mean nothing, but when put into context they have the ability to draw out some very strong emotions. Everyday we give meaning to numbers whether we realize it or not, which makes Quantitative Reasoning a very important life long skill. It is essential for you all to be able to understand what the numbers around you mean and how they impact and affect your life.
ABSTRACT THINKING
The ability to think in abstract terms is an essential skill and one of the best predictors of lifelong success. Abstraction is the ability to look at a specific situation, identify the its important elements, and then apply those elements to a situation in which the specifics are different. Algebra is the first step into the world of mathematical abstraction, and this often means that when there is a difficult problem to solve, it is always a good idea to solve an easier problem in order to gain valuable insights on how to solve the more difficult problem.
For a real world example, imagine baking a cherry pie from a cookbook in which the page that describes the oven temperature and baking time is missing. The cookbook does, however, have complete recipes for apple, mincemeat and key lime pies. Which recipe would you choose to follow? Although cherries and apples are not the same when looked at specifically, both cherry and apple pies can be thought of in the more abstract terms of “baked fruit pies.”
TECHNOLOGY ENRICHED COURSES
Click here to decide if these classes are right for you.
REVIEW FOR THE COLLEGE ALGEBRA FINAL EXAM
Click here to download the review.
As the semester progresses, watch for these problems in your college algebra class. As you learn these types of problems you can work through them on the review and can ask questions about them in class
The math department will also be providing the following review workshops to help you prepare for the final exam.
|
Date |
Day |
Time |
Location |
|
December 4, 2008 |
Thursday |
5:00 – 7:00 pm |
C114 |
|
December 5, 2008 |
Friday |
9:00 – 11:00 am |
Lowry 901-200 |
|
December 6, 2008 |
Saturday |
10:00 – 12:00 am |
C104 |
|
December 8, 2008 |
Monday |
2:00 – 4:00 pm |
C104 |
|
December 8, 2008 |
Monday |
5:00 – 7:00 pm |
C104 |
Follow this link to rsvp for one of the times above
LATE STARTING MATH CLASSES
The following math classes are starting the third week of the semester.
| CRN | Course and Section Number | Course Title | Day(s) | Times | Instructor | Start Date | End Date | Room |
| 21638 | Mat 030 019 | Fundamentals of Mathematics | MW | 09:30 am-10:30 am | Kristi Gauss | 8-Sep-08 | 10-Dec-08 | CCLA 201 |
| 21639 | Mat 060 019 | Pre-Algebra | MW | 10:45 am-12:25 pm | Kristi Gauss | 8-Sep-08 | 10-Dec-08 | CCLA 201 |
| 21641 | Mat 090 019 | Introductory Algebra | MW | 08:00 am-10:10 am | Charlie Morrison | 8-Sep-08 | 10-Dec-08 | CCLA 301 |
| 21654 | Mat 106 316 | Survey of Algebra | TR | 09:30 am-12:05 pm | Katie Galli | 9-Sep-08 | 11-Dec-08 | CCLA 311 |
| 21640 | Mat 090 062 | Introductory Algebra | W | 06:00 pm-10:15 pm | Jan Ramsay | 10-Sep-08 | 10-Dec-08 | CCLA 112 |