Math in Our World

Описание

Letter from the Authors
Liberal arts math is a challenging course to teach because most of the time, the audience is very
different from other college math classes. For most students the course is terminal, and in many
cases represents the only math credits the student will take in college. Given this audience, it
can often be a great challenge to motivate students and make them see the relevance of math,
how math plays a role in our world, and how the thinking and problem-solving strategies that
students will learn and practice can be used beyond the classroom.
The fi rst step to gaining interest is to fi nd a way to engage students. This is typically done using
applications, but too often we rely on the old classics, the applications that we remember from
our own education. This is where the two new coauthors come in (Dave and Angie): each is
known for making math engaging to students, and together, they bring a fresh, modern approach
to the second edition. To fully engage students in the 21st century, we need to think modern,
emphasizing applications that show the relevance of math to today’s students. We’ve made every
attempt to make that the focus of this edition, from fi nancing a car to fi guring out a healthy
daily calorie intake to understanding how overwhelming our national debt really is, and what that
means to us as citizens. The pizza theme that is carried throughout the book is a constant reminder to students that math isn’t a spectator sport, but something that plays an important role
in their everyday lives.
No one has ever become stronger by watching someone else lift weights, and our students aren’t
going to be any better at thinking and problem-solving unless we encourage them to practice it on
their own. Math in Our World includes a plethora of applications and real-world problems for students to hone their skills and give their brains a workout. The critical thinking skills they practice
in using this text will serve them well in any future courses whether there is math involved or not.
But more important, it will help them to become problem solvers and thinkers beyond the halls
of academia.
Once we’ve drawn your students’ attention and offered them plenty of practice, we turn to our
ultimate goal in writing this text: helping your students to succeed. We’re confi dent that this book
offers a fantastic vehicle to drive your classes to higher pass rates because of the pedagogical
elements, writing style, and interesting problem sets. Additionally, while no book can prevent
the underpreparedness of students in a course like this, we’ve got you covered there as well with
ALEKS Prep. You can read more about it on the back cover and on preface pages x and xi.
Finally, to further emphasize clarity and consistency, we as an author team took it upon ourselves
to produce the lecture videos, exercise videos, and solution manuals to accompany Math in Our
World, allowing our voices to carry throughout these supplements, perfectly complementing the
text. We hope that you and your students enjoy using Math in Our World as much as we enjoyed
writing it and putting all the pieces together. Good luck, and please don’t hesitate to contact your
local McGraw-Hill representative to let us know what you think!
—Dave, Al, and Angie

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