MAT 152 5. Time management.

 Math plays a vital role in organizing and prioritizing

LESSON #1 tasks. It helps professionals manage their time
IMPORTANCE OF MATHEMATICS efficiently, regardless of their field.
 Mathematics can teach us how to look for 6. Helps you understand the world better.
solutions and reasons logically - a skill  Math provides insight into the natural world. It
applicable to any career and life in general. explains patterns and phenomena, from the
golden ratio to the shapes found in nature,
1. Math is good for the brain and promotes logical enhancing our comprehension of how things work.
and analytical thinking. 7. Mathematics is essential in a world of constant
change.
 Math enhances brain function and logical thinking.
 In a rapidly evolving world, math is essential for
Research by Dr. Tanya Evans at Stanford shows
grasping new technologies and their implications.
that students who regularly engage with math It helps us navigate and understand the changing
problems have stronger logical skills. This practice landscape of our lives.
not only exercises the brain but also prepares us LESSON #2
for real-life challenges. MATH PATTERNS IN NATURE
2. Math helps you with your finances. Fractal
 Math is crucial for managing finances effectively. It  is a detailed pattern that looks similar at any scale
enables you to create budgets, track spending, and repeats itself overtime. It shows simple
and save money. Business professionals rely on shapes multiplying over time, yet maintaining the
math for calculating profits, losses, loans, and same pattern.
investments.  Fractals in nature are snows fakes, trees
3. Math makes you a better cook. branching, lightning, and ferns.
Spiral
 Math improves cooking skills by ensuring accurate
 is a curved pattern that focuses on a center point
ingredient measurements. This is essential for and a series of circular shapes that revolve around
creating delicious dishes and scaling recipes for it.
larger groups.  Spirals in nature are pine cones, some shells,
4. Every career uses math. pineapples, and hurricanes.
 All professions utilize math in some capacity. Voronoi
Whether in science, manufacturing, or
management, math is fundamental to various
tasks and responsibilities.
  pattern provides clues to nature's tendency to
favor efficiency: the nearest neighbor, shortest
path, and tightest fit.
 Voronoi patterns in nature are skin of giraffe, com
on the cob, honeycombs, foam bubbles, ahead of
a garlic.
Rule of Fibonacci Sequence
 The Fibonacci Sequence can be written as a
"Rule". The terms are numbered from 0 to 1.
Inductive Reasoning
 "Bottom-up logic"
✓ From facts to details and moves to a general
conclusion
✓ It is probabilistic LESSON #4
✓ It is strong or weak George Polya (1887-1985), a Hungarian mathematician
✓ Can be proven false who immigrated to the United States in 1940. He
published the book "How to Solve It" in 1945 which
Deductive Reasoning quickly became his most prized publication translated into
 "Top-down logic" 17 languages.
✓ Starts with a conclusion, then explains the facts,
details and examples Polya's Four Steps in Problem Solving Process
✓ Links premises with conclusions
✓ If all premises are true and clear, the conclusion must
also be true.

The Polya Fours-Steps can be illustrated clearly when

solving "word problems" in an algebraic approach to
finding solution sets. The process of (1) identifying the
given, (2) writing the mathematical formula, (3) solving
the unknown variable(s), and (4) checking if the value
defines the formula follows Polya's idea.
LESSON #5 LESSON #7
Problem-solving strategy #1: Make a Table or Problem-solving strategy #5: Tree Diagram
an Organized List A tree diagram is a diagram used in strategic decision
making, valuation or probability calculations. The diagram
Make a table is a problem-solving strategy that starts at a single node, with branches emanating to
can be used to solve mathematical word additional nodes, which represent mutually exclusive
problems by writing the information in a more decisions or events.
organized format.
The Addition Rule is used for dependent events, as well
Problem-solving strategy #2: Find a Pattern as mutually inclusive and mutually exclusive events while
 A pattern is a regular, systematic repetition which the Multiplication Rule is used for independent events.
often occurs in problems where there is a
progression of data. Patterns may be numerical, A tree diagram allows you to start at a single point and
verbal, spatial/visual, patterns in time or patterns in make mutually exclusive decisions or experience
sound. mutually exclusive events to follow a path down the
branches of the tree. Using the tree diagram is simple
LESSON #6 once you assign the appropriate values to each node.
Problem-solving strategy #3: Guess and Check Chance nodes, representing a possible outcome, must
 The Guess and Check is a problem-solving be assigned a probability. Decision nodes ask a question
strategy that can be used to solve mathematical and must be followed by answer nodes, such as "yes" or
problems by guessing the answer and then "no." Often, a value will be associated with a node.
checking that the guess fits the conditions of the
problems.
Problem-solving strategy #4: Working
Backward
 There are problems that give the end results of the
situation and ask about the initial conditions or
something that occurred earlier. One way to solve
this type of problem is to work backward from a
known result to find a fact at the beginning.