MATH 140: Precalculus for Business and Social Sciences

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Class Program

Mathematics

Credits

Weekly Contact Hours

Course ID

091747

Meets Degree Requirements For

Natural Science,

Quantitative Skills

Description

Functions in context of business, social science and economics. Applications are emphasized including marginal analysis of cost, profit, revenue; break-even; supply and demand; present and future values of annuities; quantities that grow or decay exponentially; and data analysis to determine and use appropriate linear, polynomial, exponential and quadratic mathematical models.

Grading Basis

Graded

Prerequisites

MATH 99 with a grade of C or better, or a grade of 3 or higher on the Smarter Balanced exam, or appropriate placement score/criteria.

Course Learning Outcomes

Perform the fundamental operations of algebra using linear, polynomial, logarithmic and exponential functions.

Translate a verbal description into a mathematical model by choosing problem appropriate independent and dependent variables, domains, ranges, asymptotic behavior, intercepts, shifts, and units.

Create and solve mathematical models of situations related to business, economics, personal finance, and social science. Identify important features like break even points, end-behavior, and equilibrium points. Interpret mathematical results in the context of the application.

Interpret mathematical relationships represented verbally, graphically, symbolically, and/or in tables.

Interpret functions and their related graphs in context including the meaning of function’s zeros, y-intercepts, and asymptotic behavior.

Use a graphing utility competently in the context of this course.

Reason quantitatively to create appropriate exact or approximate models from data.

Core Topics

Use symbolic algebra and/or technology to do the following:

Create linear models from data and verbal descriptions using context appropriate choices for variables, scale, and units.
Graph and solve linear functions, equations and inequalities and interpret the solutions in context.
Solve systems of equations graphically and analytically. Interpret results in context (break-even, equilibrium points, etc.)
Determine the appropriate mathematical model for a variety of situations, choosing between linear, quadratic, power, exponential, logarithmic, logistics, and piece-wise functions.
Create exact and approximate models of functional relationships from data.
Find the inverse functions and the corresponding domain, range, ordered pairs and units.
Analyze end-behavior of various functions in terms of growth, decay, or asymptotic behavior and interpret this result in context.
Use graphing technology competently in the context of this course.
Use matrices to represent systems of equations (optional)