MTH 108: Finite Mathematics
Trinity Washington University
Meeting Times: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:30 -11:45, Main 236
A. INSTRUCTOR
Jiseong Park, PhD
Office: Main 250
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:50-1:00 (Just walk in! You don't need
to make an appointment for these office hours.)
Zoom Office Hours: Send email to "parkji@trinitydc.edu" to schedule a meeting.
B. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a quantitative literacy and reasoning course designed for education majors and those students intending to study nursing and other allied health fields. Topics include: problem solving, set theory, logic, algebra, and measurement; including unit conversions and dimensional analysis. Additional topics include functions, graphs, systems of equations and inequalities, as well as probability and statistics. Real-world applications will be emphasized throughout the course. Formerly MATH 108 and MAT 108 Elementary Mathematical Modeling. 4 credits.
o Prerequisites: None.
o General Education Area: Foundational Skills
o Required Material: Contemporary Mathematics by D. Kirk;
ISBN: 978-1-711470-55-9 . Printed version is not needed. The book is freely available at https://openstax.org/details/books/contemporary-mathematics
o We will cover the following five chapters from the textbook:
. CHAPTER 1 Sets
. CHAPTER 3 Real Number Systems and Number Theory
. CHAPTER 5 Algebra
. CHAPTER 7 Probability
. CHAPTER 9 Metric Measurement
A PDF version of each chapter of the book will be available on the Moodle page associated with this course.
C. STUDENT EXPECTATIONS
The class will be held in person, and attendance will be taken
everyday. Students are expected to attend 80% of the scheduled classes. The
following is an excerpt from the Academic Catalog for the College of Arts and Sciences here at Trinity Washington University:
o Students are responsible for attending all class meetings unless they have made specific arrangements with the instructor. Advance notice of an absence should be given to instructors, and students are responsible for initiating a meeting with faculty to determine how all work will be completed.
o Emergencies should be reported immediately to the Dean of Student Services and the Enrollment Services Office, who will inform instructors.
o Only in an emergency may a student be absent during an assigned test.
D. COMMUNICATION
The main form of communication that I will be the email (parkji@trinitydc.edu). For cyber safety, students are encouraged to use her/his/their Trinity Washington University assigned email address when contacting me. I will respond to any message within 12 hours during the weekdays and within 48 hours during weekdays. If I have information that is beneficial to the students but is not pressing, then I will present the information as an announcement in Moodle.
E. EVALUATION (GRADES)
Each student’s grade will be based on her/his/their successful completion of assignments. There will be three different types of assignments: (1) exams; (2) homework; (3) quizzes; and (3) Lab Days. A student's course grade will be determine by the weighted average of the percentage scores from these three types. Here is the weight distribution.
Exams: 40% Homework: 20 % Quizzes: 20 % Lab Days: 20 %
A full description of each assignment can be found below.
1) Exams: (20 % of course grade) There will be two exams over the course of this semester; one midterm exam and one final exam. The midterm exam will include every topic covered before October 10, 2025, and the final exam will cover EVERY topic that is discussed in the entire period of the course. The midterm exam is scheduled for October 10, Friday, 2025.
· Cheat Sheets are Allowed: In both exams, students are allowed to bring a bundle of 8.5 x11 cheat sheets to exams. Students may put whatever information she/he/they would like on the cheat sheets. The contents must be hand written and may not be copies or printed material from other published references.
· Make-Up Policy: A student who misses an exam with a valid reason may request a make-up exam. The validity of the reason will be judged by the instructor alone and a student's request can be denied based on the instructor's discretion. An evidential document (such as doctor's note) may be requested by the instructor. If the request is approved, the make-up must be completed within 3 working days of the originally scheduled exam date. Typically, the re-take will be administered by the testing center.
2) Homework: ( 20 % of Course Grade) A set of Exercise Problems form our textbook will be assigned weekly and announced on Moodle and in the classroom on Monday. Each homework will be due on Monday's class meeting on paper. Each homework set will be worth 10 points and the 4 lowest scores will be dropped. Late homework - subject to 25% of late penalty -will be accepted if it is turned in within 1 week of the due date.
3) Quizzes: (20 % of Course Grade) We will have weekly quizzes in this class. Each quiz is worth 10 points and will be given during the last ten minutes of class every Friday except Oct 10. The weekly quizzes will feature topics covered in class earlier during the week. The lowest four (4) quiz scores will be dropped at the end of the semester. No make-up quizzes will be given even if there is a valid reason.
4) Lab Days: ( 20 % of Course grade) Every other Friday, we will have a lab day. During Lab Days, students will work together to make sure they fully understand the material by working on practice problems named "Lab Day Assignment". Lab Day evaluations will be based on participation alone and not based on the student's score from the Lab Day Assignment. Every active participant of a lab day will earn twenty (20) points for that Lab. The lowest two(2) Lab Day grades will be dropped at the end of the semester.
F. GRADE SCALE
|
92.5 - 100 % |
A |
76.5 - 79.4 % |
C+ |
|
89.5 - 92.4 % |
A- |
72.5 - 76.4 % |
C |
|
86.5 - 89.4 % |
B+ |
69.5 - 72.4 % |
C- |
|
82.5 - 86.4 % |
B |
66.5 - 69.4 % |
D+ |
|
79.5 - 82.4 % |
B- |
59.5 - 66.4 % |
D |
59.4 % or below F
G. IMPORTANT DATES
· August 25, Monday: First Day of the Class
· September 1, Monday: Labor Day (No Class)
· September 2, Tuesday: Last Day to Add/Drop
· October 13, Monday: Indigenous People's Day (No Class)
· October 10, Friday: Midterm Exam
· October 13, Monday: Indigenous People's Day (No Class)
· November 10, Monday: Last Day to Withdraw from Classes
· November 26 and November 28: Thanksgiving (No Classes)
· December 5, Friday: Last Class
· December 8 - December 12: Final Exam Week
H. TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
This class will be utilizing Moodle. Moodle is Trinity’s online course management system. A home page for Math 108 has been created in the Moodle e-Learning Platform. Students can access this page by going to http://moodle.trinitydc.edu/ from a web browser. Moodle is integrated with each student’s existing campus login username and password. This means students can use the same user name and password that he/she/they use to logon to computers on campus. For help with Moodle go to https://help.trinitydc.edu/ and choose the Moodle Support option.
I. DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES AND ACCOMMODATION: Trinity Washington University strives to provide an accessible, inclusive, and equitable educational environment for all students. Any student with a disability (or who thinks they may have a disability) should contact Disability Support Services (DSS) to request accommodation support via email DSS@trinitydc.edu or phone 202-884-9227. More information about accommodation support at Trinity can be found on the DSS website: https://discover.trinitydc.edu/disability/. Please also note that Trinity Faculty will make the Moodle gradebook visible and will update this gradebook throughout the semester so that students can track their progress and reach out for additional support, including pursuing and/or using DSS accommodations.
J. TUTORING SERVICE: There is one main tutoring service offered on campus. It is located in the library. The information is as follows:
· Location: LIB 101 & ONLINE
· Hours of Operation: Monday to Friday; 10:00am-9:00pm
· Contact: Dr. Kimberly LaBoone; tutoring@trinitydc.edu
· Website: https://discover.trinitydc.edu/academic-services/academic-support-tutoring/
|
Week |
Dates |
Sections |
Key Topics |
|
1 |
8/25, 8/27, 8/29 |
1.1, 1.2, 1.3 |
Sets, Subsets, Set Relationships, Venn Diagrams |
|
2 |
9/3, 9/5 |
1.4, 1.5 |
Set Operations |
|
3 |
9/8, 9/10, 9/12 |
3.1, 3.2 |
Integers, Factoring, Primes |
|
4 |
9/15, 9/17, 9/19 |
3.3, 3.4 |
Order of Operations, Rational Numbers |
|
5 |
9/22, 9/24, 9/26 |
3.5, 3.6, 3.7 |
Irrational Numbers, Real Number System, Clock Arithmetic |
|
6 |
9/29, 10/1, 10/3 |
3.8, 3.9 |
Exponents, Scientific Notation |
|
7 |
10/6. 10/8, 10/10 |
3.10, 3.11 Mid term Exam (10/10) |
Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences |
|
8 |
10/13, 10/15, 10/17 |
5.1, 5.2, 5.3 |
Algebraic Expressions, Linear Equations/Inequalities (single variable) |
|
9 |
10/20, 10/22, 10/24 |
5.4, 5.5, 5.6 |
Ratios and Proportions, Equation of Lines, Linear Functions, Quadratic Functions |
|
10 |
10/27, 10/29, 10/31 |
5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10 |
Functions and Graphs, System of Linear Equations, of Linear Inequalities |
|
11 |
11/3, 11/5, 11/7 |
7.1, 7.2, 7.3 |
Counting Methods (Multiplication, Permutation, Combination) |
|
12 |
11/10, 11/12, 11/14 |
7.4, 7.5, 7.6 |
Two Way Table/Tree Diagram for Multi-Stage Experiments, Concept of Independence |
|
13 |
11/17, 11/19, 11/21 |
(7.7), 7.8, 7.9, 7.10 |
Addition and Multiplication Rule, Conditional Probability, Binomial Distribution |
|
14 |
11/24 |
7.11 |
Expected Value of Probability Distribution |
|
15 |
12/1, 12/3, 12/5 |
9.1 - 9.5 |
Metric Units: Conversion between metric units for length, weight, area, and volume. Conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit |
|
|
|
Final Exam |
Date: TO BE ANNOUNCED |
DETAILED COURSE SCHEDULE (subject to change)
- Teacher: Jiseong Park