GQ, 4 credits
GenEd Quantitative Literacy courses present mathematical thinking as a tool for solving everyday problems, and as a way of understanding how to represent aspects of a complex world. They are designed to prepare students as citizens and voters to have the ability to think critically about quantitative statements, to recognize when they are misleading or false, and to appreciate how they relate to significant social or political issues. While computation may be part a QL course, the primary focus is not computational skills.
Quantitative Literacy courses are intended to teach students how to:
- Become familiar with quantitative models that describe real world phenomena and be able to recognize limitations of those models;
- Develop an ability to perform simple mathematical computations associated with a quantitative model and make conclusions based on the results; and
- Appreciate mathematical thinking as an important tool for solving a large number of problems that are part of everyday life.
SELECT ONE COURSE
Math for a Digital World
Computer & Informational Science 0823
Math 0823
How can I tell if an Email message is really from my bank? If I do online banking, can other people see the information? Does playing the lottery make sense? Does it make sense to draw for an inside straight? How can polling results differ so much from the election--or do they? Sometimes the winner of an election in the US gets much less
than 50% of the vote. Would it make sense to have a run-off in such cases? How long will the world's oil last, assuming that we use more each year. How long will a million dollars last you, assuming it earns interest until you spend it? If you bought your text online, could someone tap into the Internet and get your credit card number when it's transmitted? Why does the VIN on your car have so many digits?
Mathematical Patterns
Math 0824
News stories, everyday situations, and puzzling vignettes will be used to illuminate basic math concepts. Learn probability, for example, by discussing the gambler's fallacy and gambler's ruin, the drunkard's random walks, the Monty Hall problem, the St. Petersburg
paradox, the hot hand, monkeys randomly typing on a typewriter, and many others. A similar approach involving estimation problems and puzzles will be taken in the units
on basic numeracy and logic. Throughout the course, lectures and readings will examine the mathematical angles of stories in the news, suggesting fresh perspectives, questions, and ideas on current issues from google searches to the randomness of the iPod shuffle.
Investing for the Future
Electrical Engineering 0822
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Learn about the challenges of personal financial management in an ownership society. The idea that you should be thinking about retirement today when you're just in college may seem premature. But if you are responsible for accumulating around $2.0 million by the time you retire, shouldn't you understand the effect of delaying your investments until well after graduation when your career is established? In this course you will learn how to determine your retirement needs, how to think about managing risk in your investments, the issues involved in structuring a retirement portfolio, the role of the economy as it affects your investment performance, and the tradeoffs between active and passive investing. If you want to avoid being forced to wear an orange (blue or red) vest when you should be enjoying retirement, then this course should be of interest to you.
Statistics & the News
Statistics 0826
Through discussion of approximately 50 news articles, learn basic principles of statistics. This course focuses on the relevance, interpretation and usage of statistics in the news media. It has no quantitative prerequisites and involves more reading than math aptitude. Statistics deals with the study of variability, uncertainty, and decision-making, and has applicability to most other disciplines and everyday life.
Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences
Anthropology 0825
Political Science 0825
Psychology 0825
Sociology 0825
Psychological, political, social, and economic arguments and knowledge frequently depend on the use of numerical data. A psychologist might hypothesize that I.Q. is attributable to environmental or genetic factors; a politician might claim that hand gun control legislation will reduce crime; a sociologist might assert that social mobility is more limited in the United States than in other countries, and an economist might declare that globalization lowers the incomes of U.S. workers. How can we evaluate these arguments? Using examples from psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, students will examine how social science methods and statistics help us understand the social world. The goal is to become critical consumers of quantitative material that appears in scholarship, the media, and everyday life.
Digital Maps: From Mercator to Mashups
Community & Regional Planning 0821
Geography & Urban Studies 0821
From web-based applications like Google Maps, to automobile navigation systems, to satellite pictures of hurricanes, digital maps are widely used to display information about the Earth. This course unmasks the underlying technologies used for computer-based mapping, including Global Positioning Systems (GPS), satellite remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). We will investigate how computers store and analyze digital maps, and see how mapping technologies can be used to address a variety of societal problems, such as analyzing the environmental impacts of urban growth, tracking the spread of a deadly disease, and planning for earthquakes and other natural disasters.
