Other Mathematics Commons^™

Prime Factors: America’S Prioritization Of Literacy Over Numeracy And Its Relationship To Systemic Inequity, Troy Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For much of American history, literacy has been prioritized in K-12 education and society, at large, at the expense of numeracy. This lack of numerical emphasis has established innumeracy as an American cultural norm that has resulted in America not producing a sufficient number of numerate citizens, and ranking poorly on mathematical performance in international comparisons. This paper investigates the decisions and circumstances that led to this under prioritization, along with the public and cultural impact of said actions. Toward this end, literature regarding contemporary and historical influences on American mathematics education (e.g., civic, policy, and parental) was reviewed. The …

Mathematics For Liberal Arts (Ma301), Lecture Notes, Lyubomir I. Boyadzhiev

Open Educational Resources

These lecture notes are designed to provide the students majoring in the liberal arts with an understanding and appreciation of mathematics as a lively, interesting, and surprisingly rich human activity with many fascinating applications. The text, emphasizing strongly intuitive thinking and visualization, is a collection of topics chosen to show the open-minded readers that:

• The connection between the mathematics presented in the course and down-to-earth, concrete real-life problems is transparent and immediate.
• Modern mathematical discoveries do not have to be the exclusive province of professional mathematicians.
• There is an important aesthetic component in mathematics, and just as in art and …