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Mathematics: A Practical Odyssey, 8th Edition

David B. Johnson, Thomas A. Mowry

  • Copyright 2016
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2015-01-01T00:00:00+0000')}}
Starting At $77.95 See pricing and ISBN options
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Mathematics: A Practical Odyssey 8th Edition by David B. Johnson/Thomas A. Mowry
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Overview

MATHEMATICS: A PRACTICAL ODYSSEY, 8th Edition demonstrates mathematics' usefulness and relevance to students' daily lives through topics such as calculating interest and understanding voting systems. Well known for its clear writing and unique variety of topics, the text emphasizes problem-solving skills, practical applications, and the history of mathematics, and unveils the relevance of mathematics and its creative human aspect to students. To offer flexibility in content, the book contains more information than might be covered in a one-term course. In addition, the chapters are independent of each other, further enabling instructors to select the ideal topics for their courses.

Instructors and students benefit from WebAssign content updates without having to transition to a new edition, including new problem types such as Responsive Labs, a new Activities Booklet, and more.

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Meet the Authors

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David B. Johnson

David Johnson earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology (with an emphasis on Learning Theory), from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a Master's degree in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. After several years working as an academic counselor at Berkeley, he became a Professor of Mathematics at Diablo Valley College (DVC). He has taught DVC's liberal arts math course regularly for about 25 years, using Mathematics a Practical Odyssey. Other favorite courses include Intermediate Algebra, all three semesters of Calculus, and Differential Equations.

Thomas A. Mowry

Thomas Mowry earned a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Mathematics from Michigan Technological University, in Houghton, Michigan. He began his college teaching career at City College of San Francisco and then went on to teach at San Francisco State University, Golden Gate University, and Cogswell College. He has been a professor of mathematics at Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill, California since 1985, where he has taught the complete gamut of courses from arithmetic to differential equations. He has served as department chair at DVC for the last seven years. Along with co-author, David Johnson, he created a college-level, transferable mathematics course (at DVC ) designed for students in the liberal arts. As no appropriate textbooks were available for this course, he and David created Mathematics: A Practical Odyssey, which was first published in 1992.

Features

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  • JUST IN TIME SUPPORT built into questions contains direct links to the eTextbook (Read It) and videos (Watch It).
  • EXPANDED PROBLEMS include intermediary steps to guide students to the final answer.
  • MASTER IT TUTORIALS break problems down into steps to help guide students through the mathematical process.
  • RESPONSIVE LABS are multi-step projects (Labs) that provide an authentic and personalized application problem that gives learners the skills to think about and use the mathematics they are learning in various ways outside the classroom.
  • STUDENT ACTIVITIES BOOKLET includes crowd-sourced projects contributed by instructors that give students in-depth practice either with a group or on their own.
  • COURSE PACKS are modifiable, ready-to-use assignments built by subject matter experts to help save time.
  • CLASS INSIGHTS provide understanding of student knowledge gaps.
  • READER FRIENDLY STYLE makes this accessible to students. The examples are well constructed, with easy-to-follow steps; key points are boxed for emphasis; and the discussions provided in the exposition demonstrate the utility of the content.
  • FLEXIBLE by offering an assortment of content to choose from. The chapters are independent of each other so instructors can select the ideal topics for their courses.
  • HISTORICAL NOTES give in-depth biographies of prominent people whose contributions relate to the topics at hand. This is in addition to the history of the subject matter that is interwoven throughout most chapters, allowing students to see the human side of mathematics.
  • PROJECTS AND HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES actively engage students, providing opportunities to try something first-hand or perform open-ended research.
  • REAL WORLD CONNECTION from the variety of applications-oriented examples and exercises. The "Topic X. . .in the Real World" features incorporate specific chapter material into a real-world context, reinforcing the book's practical emphasis.

Table of Contents

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1. LOGIC.
Deductive versus Inductive Reasoning. Symbolic Logic. Truth Tables. More on Conditionals. Analyzing Arguments. Deductive Proof of Validity.
2. SETS AND COUNTING.
Sets and Set Operations. Applications of Venn Diagrams. Introduction to Combinatorics. Permutations and Combinations. Infinite Sets.
3. PROBABILITY.
History of Probability. Basic Terms of Probability. Basic Rules of Probability. Combinatorics and Probability. Expected Value. Conditional Probability. Independence; Medical Tests and Genetics.
4. STATISTICS.
Population, Sample, and Data. Measures of Central Tendency. Measures of Dispersion. The Normal Distribution. Polls and Margin of Error. Linear Regression.
5. FINANCE.
Simple Interest. Compound Interest. Annuities. Amortized Loans. Annual Percentage Rate with a TI-Calculator's TVM Application. Payout Annuities.
6. VOTING AND APPORTIONMENT.
Voting Systems. Methods of Apportionment. Flaws of Apportionment.
7. NUMBER SYSTEMS AND NUMBER THEORY.
Place Systems. Addition and Subtraction in Different Bases. Multiplication and Division in Different Bases. Prime Numbers and Perfect Numbers. Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio.
8. GEOMETRY.
Perimeter and Area. Volume and Surface Area. Egyptian Geometry. The Greeks. Right Triangle Trigonometry. Linear Perspective. Conic Sections and Analytic Geometry. Non-Euclidean Geometry. Fractal Geometry. The Perimeter and Area of a Fractal.
9. GRAPH THEORY.
A Walk through Köningsberg. Graphs and Euler Trails. Hamilton Circuits. Networks. Scheduling.
10. EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS.
Review of Exponentials and Logarithms. Review of Properties of Logarithms. Exponential Growth. Exponential Decay. Logarithmic Scales.
11. MARKOV CHAINS.
Review of Matrices. Review of Systems of Linear Equations. Markov Chains and Tree Diagrams. Markov Chains and Matrices. Long-Range Predictions with Markov Chains. Solving Larger Systems of Equations. More on Markov Chains.
12. LINEAR PROGRAMMING.
Review of Linear Inequalities. The Geometry of Linear Programming. Introduction to the Simplex Model.[online section only] The Simplex Method: Complete Problems. [online section only]
13. THE CONCEPTS AND HISTORY OF CALCULUS. [online chapter only]
Review of Ratios, Parabolas, and Functions. The Antecedents of Calculus. Four Problems. Newton and Tangent Lines. Newton on Falling Objects and the Derivative. The Trajectory of a Cannonball. Newton and Areas. Conclusion.
APPENDICES.
A. Using a Scientific Calculator.
B. Using a Graphing Calculator.
C. Graphing with a Graphing Calculator.
D. Finding Points of Intersection with a Graphing Calculator.
E. Dimensional Analysis.
F. Body Table for the Standard Normal Distribution.
G. Answers.

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Each WebAssign online product offers the full textbook combined with a flexible and fully customizable online instructional assignments and tools.

Cengage provides a seamless user experience for Learning Management Systems (LMS) integration. Please contact your Cengage Learning Consultant for ordering information and visit our Learning Management System Integration web page on WebAssign for general information.

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  • ISBN-10: 1337766356
  • ISBN-13: 9781337766357
  • RETAIL $99.95
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Textbook Only Options

Traditional eBook and Print Options

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  • ISBN-10: 0357540158
  • ISBN-13: 9780357540152
  • RETAIL $77.95

  • ISBN-10: 1305682467
  • ISBN-13: 9781305682467
  • RETAIL $77.95

  • ISBN-10: 130510417X
  • ISBN-13: 9781305104174
  • RETAIL $299.95
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Supplements

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Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

FOR STUDENTS

WebAssign Instant Access for Johnson/Mowry's Mathematics: A Practical Odyssey, Single-Term

ISBN: 9781337766357
WebAssign for Mathematics: A Practical Odyssey is a flexible and fully customizable online instructional solution that puts powerful tools in the hands of instructors, enabling you to deploy assignments, instantly assess individual student and class performance and help your students master the course concepts. Enrich the teaching and learning experience with the superior content within the powerful digital platform of WebAssign. Tailor your course with a wide range of assignment settings, the ability to add your own questions and content, analytics at the individual and course level and student/teacher communication tools.