Textbook

Quantitative Reasoning: Tools for Today's Informed Citizen

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Overview
Resources for Instructors

The need for quantitative reasoning courses has never been stronger: Citing a recent study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Associated Press reported in 2006 that more than half of the nation’s students at four-year colleges and universities “lack the literacy to handle complex, real-life tasks” such as understanding credit card offers, balancing checkbooks, and computing restaurant tips.

Quantitative Reasoning: Tools for Today’s Informed Citizen helps students connect mathematics in the classroom with applications in the real world. Through a series of hands-on activities and explorations, the text empowers students by teaching them to apply quantitative reasoning skills to make informed decisions in their daily lives. Authors Alicia Sevilla and Kay Somers developed this engaging, activity-based text for students enrolled in an introductory-level, problem-based general education quantitative reasoning course. Technology is an essential component of the text, and it is integrated in Activities that use Microsoft® Excel or, alternatively, the TI-83/84 Plus graphing calculator. The use of technology helps students concentrate on ideas rather than computational details—allowing them to investigate significant and more realistic problems.

Table of Contents

Annotated Contents vii
Activities Contents xiv
Preface svi
To the Students xxii
To the Instructor xxiv
Acknowledgements xxvi

Section I: Numerical Reasoning

Topic 1: Organizing Information Pictorially Using Charts and Graphs 3

Topic 2: Bivariate Data 29

Topic 3: Graphs of Functions 45

Topic 4: Multiple Variable Functions 69

Topic 5: Proportional, Linear, and Piecewise Linear Functions 85

Topic 6: Modeling with Linear and Exponential Functions 103

Topic 7: Logarithms and Scientific Notation 119

Topic 8: Indexes and Ratings 133

Topic 9: Personal Finances 151

Topic 10: Introduction to Problem Solving 169

Section II: Logical Reasoning

Topic 11: Decision Making 185

Topic 12: Inductive Reasoning 201

Topic 13: Deductive Reasoning 215

Topic 14: Apportionment 239

Topic 15: More on Problem Solving 255

Section III: Statistical Reasoning

Topic 16: Averages and Five-Number Summary 265

Topic 17: Standard Deviation, z-Score, and Normal Distributions 287

Topic 18: Basics of Probability 309

Topic 19: Conditional Probability and Tables 325

Topic 20: Sampling and Surveys 343

Topic 21: More on Decision Making 363

Activities

Excel Activities 377

Graphing Calculator Activities on the Student CD

Excel Commands by Activities

Index

Resources on the Student CD

Excel Data Bank to Accompany Excel Activities

Selected Answers to Explorations

Graphing Calculator Activities

Graphing Calculator Commands by Activity

Hallmark Features

Activity-based approach that encourages students to think critically about how math is used in the real world and to express their ideas with one another.
Complete integration of technology improving students’ proficiency with MS Excel, the Internet, and the TI-83/84 Plus graphing calculator.
Real data from print and electronic sources featured in problem solving, which helps students make the connection between the mathematics they learn and the issues they encounter in their daily lives.
Clearly identified Objectives, worked-out Examples, and a Summary for each of the book’s 21 Topics help students focus their studies.
Explorations at the end of each Topic present additional real-life applications for students to investigate.