Using & Understanding Mathematics a Quantitative Reasoning

With all of the topics needed to fulfill a general education requirement, this text, one of the few for the emerging Quantitative Literacy/Quantitative Reasoning Course, helps to reduce mathematical anxiety and focuses on the practicality of mathematics in college, career, and life.Time Out to Think. Appearing throughout the book, the Time Out to Think features pose short conceptual questions designed to help students reflect on important new ideas. They also serve as excellent starting points for classroom discussions. Margin Features. This book includes a wide margin so that students have room to make notes while studying. The margin also contains material that should spur student interest but is peripheral to the main discussion. This material comes in three basic forms: - By the Way features contain interesting notes and asides relevant to the topic at hand. - Historical Note remarks give historical context to the ideas presented in the chapter. - Technical Notes contain details that are important mathematically, but generally do not affect students' understanding of the material. A Brief Review. These boxed features review key mathematical skills that students should have learned previously, but in which many students still need review and practice. They appear in the book wherever a particular skill is first needed, and exercises based on the review boxes can be found at the end of the unit. Practical Matters. These boxed features focus on topics of particularly high practical importance, such as how to watch out for bad deals on telephone service, how to avoid credit card trouble, and how to save money and energy at the same time. Thinking About. These boxed features build upon ideas in the main narrative but go somewhat beyond the level of other material in the book. Examples include boxes on the proof of the Pythagorean theorem and on Zeno's paradox. Basic Skills and Concepts. These questions offer practice with the concepts covered in the unit. The exercises can be used for homework assignments or for self-study (answers to most odd-numbered exercises appear in the back of the book). Web Projects. The Web Projects require searching for data or other information on the Web. They can be used for extended projects, discussion, group activities, or essays. In the News. These questions ask students to find examples from the news or from daily life of the ideas presented in the unit. These questions may be assigned as homework or used for class discussions.