Mathematics in Trades and Life

This book is designed to be used for classes supporting trade programs in a variety of fields and also to satisfy baccalaureate general education requirements.

It is also written to be used in conjunction with active learning pedagogies rather than as a reference text. That is, it has been designed for students to read the examples, work initial problems to help them identify questions, and to then seek help while working on exercises. It can be easily incorporated into flipped classrooms and asynchronous learning. It intentionally does not provide an example to mimic for each question in the exercises. Rather each section provides an simple example, a more complex example, and some explanation about what is important. Then exercises are provided for them to test their ability to recognize and use the mathematics from that section.

The check points (exercises in the reading) are self-grading with feedback so the reader can determine what if any questions they need to ask. Videos, where included, are presentations of the introduction of the concept in that section. Homework by default is live, online problems that provide feedback. The scores on these cannot be saved in an LMS however. If you wish to use MyOpenMath, the problems, and even a shell, can be provided. If desired the PDF version can be used which does not have live homework.

The projects are an integral part of the general education goals. These are intended to be assigned after relevant material is covered. They require students to use topics from that chapter to perform calculations and then interpret the results of their work. The projects also provide a opportunity for students to express calculations using standard mathematical notation and to communicate mathematical results in clear language.

For context, here is a brief history. The first version of this text was written to transition to an OER for MATH A104 Technical Mathematics at the Univesity of Alaska Anchorage. Commercially available texts emphasized memorizing problem types with limited critical thinking. As such they could not be used to satisfy the general education requirement. There was also a desire to reduce costs including for textbooks and online homework systems. As a result this book was created with matching homework in MyOpenMath.

Served disciplines at UAA included auto/diesel, heavy equipment mechanics, welding and non-destructive testing, aviation mechanics, piloting, air traffic controll, and medical certification programs.