MATH 101: College Mathematics

Overview

College Mathematics is a course that prepares the college student to make effective fundamental personal financial decisions related to a variety of topics in their life. This course is a first step towards preparing students to make effective financial decisions. This course combines financial mathematics with direct application to personal finance decisions. The first goal of this course is to introduce the student to important financial calculations essential for healthy personal finances. The second goal of the course is to help students learn how to apply these to real-world financial situations. More specifically students will apply formulas learned to solve real-world financial situations such as: The use of basic math in solving word problems. Identify and apply basic algebra skills in solving word problems. Calculate payroll and payroll deductions. Perform a bank reconciliation with the check register. Describe simple interest and compound interest. Calculate solutions to problems involving the time value of money. Calculate the cost of loans and mortgages. Calculate personal income tax. Use MS Excel to make financial decisions. Students will learn the formulas and the decision-making process behind solutions to the above situations in order to become more effective personal finance decision-makers. This will be achieved by studying selected chapters, working through problems and a case, and applying this knowledge to an ongoing course project using Excel.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply mathematical formulas to solve personal finance problems.
• Use business-related tools to make effective financial decisions.
• Analyze outcomes of spreadsheet results.

Course Requirements

Packaged with the textbook, Practical Business Math Procedures, students will receive a users guide and access code for a math practice program called ALEKS for Business Math. This web-based program requires Internet access, and it will be used in each module of this course. Please note that if you purchase the textbook from a source other than the JIU Bookstore, it may not include the access code you need to complete work in this course. Therefore, we recommend that you purchase this item only from the JIU Bookstore.

Required Texts
MATH 101 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore