Saturday, July 10, 2010

Time conversions

Change 12,345 seconds into hours, minutes and seconds.

Change 1,776 minutes into days, hours and minutes.

Answers in the comments.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Practice problems for logic and tautology

The text editor for this blog doesn't have any arrow symbol, either for mapping or for implication. Instead, the mapping arrow will be written as -> and the implication arrow will be =>.

For all these problems, let p = 1100 and q = 1010. Determine if the following logical statements are tautologies (all 1's), contradictions (all 0's) or conditional (some 1's and some 0's).

Problem 1.
(p v q) => ~p
Problem 2.
p v (q => ~p)

Problem 3.
(p ^ q) => ~p

Problem 4.
(p ^ ~p) => q


Answers in the comments.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Practice problems for homework 5

Link to a set of contingency table problems.

Sets to bitstrings and vice versa.

Let the universal set U = {red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet} in that order.

Change sets into bitstrings of length six.

{red, yellow, blue} -> ___________

{red, orange, yellow} -> ____________

{orange, violet} -> ____________

Change bitstrings into sets.

10 0111 -> _______________

01 0101 -> _______________

00 000 -> _______________

Answers to the set and bitstring questions in the comments.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Practice problems for homework 2

Practice for rates per 100,000 population.

Practice for prime factorization.

Practice for scientific notation.
100! cannot be found on your calculator because it is more than 10 raised to the power of 100. It can be split into 60! * 100nPr40, both numbers less than 10 to the 100th power. Find these values and multiply them together by hand to find 100!

This answer is in the comments of this post.


Practice for binary to decimal.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Monday, June 21, 2010

Link to the post for Four Great Mathematicians.

Follow this link to stories about Archimedes, Newton, Euler and Gauss.

Syllabus for Spring 2011

Math 15: Math for Liberal Arts Spring 2011
Instructor: Matthew Hubbard
Email: mhubbard@peralta.edu
Text: no required text. If you want a text, personal recommendations can be made
Class website: http://mathlibarts.blogspot.com/
Class hours TTh: 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm, G-209
Office hours: Math lab G-201
Th 10:00-10:25 am, 5:00-5:25 pm (also available by appointment)
Scientific calculator required (TI-30IIXs, TI-83 or TI-84 recommended)

Important academic schedule dates:
Last date to add, if class is not full: Sat., Feb. 5
Last date to drop class without a "W": Thurs., Feb. 24
Last date to withdraw from class: Mon,. Apr. 25

Holidays:
Spring Break: April 18-24Thursday, May 19: Malcolm X Day
Midterm and Finals schedule:
Midterm 1: Thursday, March 3
Midterm 2: Thursday, April 7
Comprehensive Final: Tuesday, May 24 5:30-6:45

Quiz schedule: Thursdays when no midterm given

Grading Policy
Homework to be turned in: Assigned every Thursday, due the next class
(late homework accepted at the beginning of next class period, 10% off grade)
If arranged at least a week in advance, make-up midterm can be given.

The lowest two scores from homework and the lowest two scores from quizzes will be removed from consideration before grading.

Grading system
Quizzes 25%* best 2 out of three of these grades
Midterm 1 25%* best 2 out of three of these grades
Midterm 2 (two half midterms combined) 25%* best 2 out of three of these grades
Homework 20%
Lab 5%
Final 25%

Anyone who misses less than two homework assignments and gets a higher percentage score on the final than the weighted average of all grades combined will get the final percentage instead deciding the final grade.



Academic honesty: Your homework, exams and quizzes must be your own work. Anyone caught cheating on these assignments will be punished, where the punishment can be as severe as failing the class or being put on college wide academic probation. Working together on homework assignments is allowed, but the work you turn in must be your own, and you are responsible for checking its accuracy.

Class rules: Cell phones and beepers turned off, no headphones or text messaging during class
You will need your own calculator and handout sheets for tests and quizzes. Do not expect to be able to borrow these from someone else.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Analyze an argument for validity using simple rules of logic, and if invalid identify the type of mistake made.
• Compute, with sophisticated formulas, such quantities as interest payments for amortized loans.
• Interpret patterns and draw inferences from them.

Students with disabilities
The Disabled Students Program Services (DSPS) should have your academic accommodation with the instructor. After the first day, I will accept these accommodations electronically or by hard copy on paper. If you need academic accommodation and have not yet applied, please call 510-464-3428 for an appointment.

Exam policies
Tests will be closed book and closed notes. Some information you will be expected to remember, other formulas and information will be provided. No sharing of calculators is allowed. You are responsible for knowing how to use your calculator to find answers.

The reciprocal relationship

The teacher will be on time and prepared to teach the class.
The students will be on time and prepared to learn.

The teacher will present the material to the best of his ability.
The students will absorb the material to the best of their ability. They will ask questions when topics are not clear.

The teacher will do his best to answer the questions the students ask about the material, either by repeating an answer with more details included or by taking a different approach to the material that might be clearer to some students.
The students will understand if the teacher feels a topic has been covered enough for the majority of the class and will accept questions being answered outside the class, either in extra time or through written communication.

The teacher will do his best to keep the class about the material. Personal details and distractions that are not germane to the class should not be part of the class.
The students will do their best to keep the class about the material. Questions that are not about the topic should be avoided. Distractions like cell phones and texting are not welcome when the class is in session.

The teacher will give assignments that will help the students master the skills required to pass the course.
The students will put in their best efforts to complete the assignments.
When the assignments are completed, the teacher will make every effort to get the assignments graded and back to the students in a timely manner, by the next class session whenever possible.

The teacher will present real life situations where the skills being learned will be used when they exist. In math, sometimes a particular skill is needed in general to solve later problems that will have real life applications. Other skills have the application of “learning how to learn”, of committing an idea to memory so that committing other ideas to memory becomes easier in the long run.

The student has the right to ask “When will I use this?” when dealing with mathematical topics. Sometimes, the answer is “We need this skill for the next skill we will learn.” Other times, the answer is “We are learning how to learn.” Both of these answers are as valid in their way as “We will need this to understand perspective” or “We use this to balance our checkbooks” or “Ratios can be used to figure out costs” or other real life applications.