MFG1107 Spring 2023

Course: MGF1107 — Explorations in Mathematics Office Phone: (772) 462-7595

Instructor: Dr. Taylor Kilman Cell Phone: (321) 209-1350
Office: W-214 (Massey) E-mail: tkilman@irsc.edu

Office Hours: Monday: 8:45am – 9:30am & 12:15pm – 1:23pm

Tuesday: 8:45am – 9:30am & 11:00pm – 1:23pm
Wednesday: 8:45am – 9:30am & 12:15pm – 1:23pm
Thursday: 8:45am – 9:30am & 11:00pm – 1:23pm
Friday: None

§1 Course Description: The purpose of this course is to present the utility of mathematics to students
who do not intend to take STEM-track mathematics courses. Students are presented with just a preview of
what they might see in an entire course for each topic. Topics include Elementary Number Theory, Numbers
and Number Systems, Financial Mathematics, Linear and Exponential Growth, Voting Techniques, Graph
Theory and a History of Mathematics.

§2 Learning Outcomes: The student will demonstrate scientific or mathematical reasoning in problem-
solving.

§3 Prerequisite: Earn a “C” or better in Intermediate Algebra (MAT 1033).

§4 Textbook: Math in Society, David Lippman (available for free at LibreTexts.org ). Course notes are
available to students in Blackboard and will be used during each class meeting.

§5 Software: MyOpenMath will be used for online homework and quizzes. This software is free and is
accessed via Blackboard.

§6 Blackboard: Blackboard will be used for its gradebook, communication, and resources outside the
textbook. The Blackboard gradebook will be frequently updated (after each assignment due date). Please
check Blackboard every day for course information.

§7 Communication with the Instructor: Before communicating with the instructor about a question,
students should always consult appropriate course resources. That is, before sending an electronic commu-
nication (e.g., email, forum post, etc.) to the professor or scheduling an appointment, students should first
attempt to resolve their question by reviewing the following resources:

1. The course syllabus (for course policies),

2. The schedule of activities (for due dates),
3. Blackboard announcements, and

4. Rivermail (for recent email communications about the course)

In the event that a question is not resolved by consulting the aforementioned resources, a student may send
an email to the instructor, post a question to the Ask the Professor forum, or schedule an appointment with
the instructor. The Ask the Professor forum is the preferred method of electronic communication, since
students’ posts and instructor replies benefit all students. Students are always encouraged to attend posted
office hours. In an emergency, students may text or call the instructor’s cell phone.

§8 The Ask the Professor forum is the best medium for most electronic course communications. Students
should first use the search feature to determine if their question has previously been asked and answered. If
a question has not previously been answered, then a student may create a new post. Ask the Professor forum
posts should include a specific question with accompanying context (e.g., question instructions, relevant given
information — a screenshot may be posted). Questions about mathematical exercises should also include
a student’s previous solution attempt (photographs of scratch work can easily be attached to forum posts).
The forum also allows students to answer other students’ questions and the instructor encourages all students

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to participate in this manner. Lastly, students should take care to give all forum posts an appropriate title
(i.e., section number, exercise number, keywords) so that the post may be easily found by other students.

§9 Instructor Online Availability: The instructor does not generally reply to email or Ask the Professor
forum posts during the hours of 5:00pm and 9:00am on business days, nor on the weekends or holidays.
This is practiced in order to devote appropriate time to family and rest. Students should expect a reply
to an inquiry within one business day (i.e., within 24 hours, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays).
Communications posted to the Ask the Professor forum are likely to receive the quickest response.

§10 Calculator: At the very least, scientific calculator is required for this course. Graphing calculators
are also acceptable and strongly encouraged (but not required). A TI-84+ CE will be used for classroom
demonstrations.

Approximate Expected Weekly Time Commitment Distribution

Attending Class Weekly 2.5 hours
Watching Lecture Videos 1–2 hours
Working on Homework Assignments 6–8 hours (∼ 1 hour per day)
Extra Study Time (study guides, textbook reading, etc.) 2–3 hours
Total Time Expectation Per Week: 11.5–15.5 hours (9–13 hours outside of class)

§11 Course Grade: Course grades are computed using the weighted average of attendance (5%), homework
(10%), quizzes (10%), and tests (75%).

F < 60 60 ≤ D < 70 70 ≤ C < 80 80 ≤ B < 90 90 ≤ A

§12 Grade Calculation:

0.75 (Test Avg.) + 0.10 (QZ Avg.) + 0.10 (HW Avg.) + 0.05 (Attendance) = Course Grade

§13 Homework and Quizzes: The assigned online homework and quizzes in are mandatory. Together,
those assignments account for 20% of your course grade. A student who does not frequently (i.e., daily)
work on homework and quizzes will not succeed in this course. Working on these exercises will provide the
practice required to learn the course material (additional, ungraded practice may also be required).

§14 Attendance Policy: Attendance is mandatory. The attendance grade is calculated as proportion of
classes attended out of the total number classes held.

§15 Final course grades assigned in this course are an informed and final evaluation of student learning
and are not open for discussion or negotiation. Any student lobbying efforts (e.g., asking for a higher grade for
sports, scholarship, GPA, or university admission purposes) will be perceived as grade grubbing, unethical,
and unbecoming of an IRSC student. No additional assignments or extra credit opportunities are offered to
individual students. To make a desired grade in this course, one must produce high quality work, according
to the grading policy specified in this document.

§16 Withdrawals are the responsibility of the student to complete on or before the withdrawal deadline:
Monday, March 20, 2023.

§17 Instructor Withdrawals are not granted in this course. Consequently, a student will not be able to
withdraw from the course after Monday, March 20, 2023.

§18 Incompletes are only given if a student has successfully completed all current assignments (passing
the class with a C, 70% or higher) and a catastrophic event prevents the student from finishing the course.

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In the event a student is awarded an incomplete, the student must agree (in writing) to finish the course
within four (4) months of the original class end date.

§19 Make-up Tests are not allowed. If a student is not available on the day of a scheduled test, it is the
student’s responsibility to contact the instructor before the scheduled test date in order to arrange a time to
complete the test before its scheduled date. Each students lowest chapter test score will be replaced by their
final exam score, provided the final exam score is greater.

§20 Make-up Assignments: All homework and quiz assignments should be completed on-time, according
to the schedule of activities. Any homework or quiz assignment that is not completed by its original due date
will be subject to a 25% late penalty. Furthermore, access to past-due assignments is subject to a student’s
availability of LatePasses (see below). The three lowest homework scores and two lowest quiz scores of each
student will be automatically dropped.

§21 LatePasses extend an individual homework or quiz assignment by 48 hours beyond its original due
date. For example, if an assignment was due three days ago, two LatePasses will be required to access
the assignment. Each student is given 10 LatePasses. As such, students should make all effort to complete
homework and quiz assignments on time and only rely on LatePasses to extend homework or quiz assignments
in rare instances.

§22 The Schedule of Activities is posted in Blackboard. The schedule of activities should be considered
accurate but is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion.

§23 File Uploads: It is the responsibility each student to ensure the validity of any assignment submitted
via Blackboard file upload. After submission, a file may be previewed in Blackboard; students should
thoroughly verify each submission. A file may be resubmitted (before the due date) if any error is found.
After the due date, any file that is not readable by the instructor (including, but not limited to, pending
submissions, incomplete submissions, blank files, corrupt files, wrong file types, etc.) will be awarded a grade
of 0. Unless otherwise stated, the only file type that will be accepted is portable document format (PDF).

§24 Extra Resources: If (when) difficulty is encountered in this course, it is imperative that students ask
for help. Students are encouraged to contact their instructor for help (while adhering to the communication
policies listed above). In addition, students should take full advantage of the following resources:
1. The ASC (Academic Support Center) provides FREE virtual tutoring (Schedule)
2. SmarThinking.com — FREE online tutoring available 24/7 – see link in Blackboard.
3. YouTube — Kahn Academy is great. There are an endless number of statistics tutorials on YouTube.
§25 Video Recordings for Personal Use: Students may record video or audio of class lectures for
their own personal educational use. A class lecture is defined as a planned presentation by a college faculty
member or instructor, during a scheduled class, delivered for the purpose of transmitting knowledge or
information that is reasonably related to the pedagogical objective of the course in which the student is
enrolled. Recording class activities other than class lectures, including but not limited to class discussions,
student presentations, labs, academic exercises involving student participation, and private conversations, is
prohibited. Recordings may not include the image or voice of other students in the class, may not be used
as a substitute for class participation and class attendance, and may not be published or shared without the
written consent of the faculty member. Failure to adhere to these requirements may constitute a violation
of the College’s Student Code of Conduct.

§26 Academic Dishonesty: Indian River State College expects academic honesty from all of its students.
Cheating, plagiarism, or other kinds of academic dishonesty are considered violations of established college
expectations and may result in penalties ranging from failure of an assignment to dismissal from the college,
depending on the severity of the offense. Cheating includes, but is not limited to, students turning in
work that is not solely theirs, not properly citing sources within written assignments, using a non-approved

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electronic device (e.g., cell phone, computer) during a test, copying another student’s answers/work, using
unapproved study aids during a test or quiz, or helping another student engage in any academically dishonest
act. Furthermore, posting course material on websites such as Chegg, Slader, Quizlet, Course Hero, etc. is
considered academic dishonesty and will result in an automatic failure of the course. Be aware, assessments
are unique to each student and thus any material posted online can be easily matched with a student.

§27 Student Accessibility Services: Indian River State College provides reasonable accommodations to
students with documented disabilities through the Student Accessibility Services (SAS) Office. The rights
of students with disabilities which pertain to post-secondary education are provided under Section 504 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Students who wish
to request an accommodation for a documented disability may contact Student Accessibility Services at
772-462-7808, 772-462-7782 or e-mail accessibilityservices@irsc.edu.

§28 Course Difficulties: If you are experiencing difficulty in your course, your first obligation is to
work directly with your instructor to resolve the issue. If you are unable to settle your concerns with the
assistance of your instructor, you can contact the Department Chair (Donald Bryant at 772-336-6271 or
dwbryant@irsc.edu), who will assist you or advise you about contacting Academic Dean (Tiffany Lewis at
772-462-7634 or tlewis@irsc.edu) or the Provost (Heather Belmont at 772-462-7216 or hbelmont@irsc.edu).

§29 Non-Discrimination and Non-Harassment Policy: Indian River State College is committed to
maintaining a fair and respectful employment and educational environment. In accordance with federal,
state and local equal opportunity laws, Indian River State College prohibits discrimination on the basis of
race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran
status, or genetic information.

§30 Syllabus Disclaimer: The instructor views the course syllabus as an educational contract between
the instructor and students. The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus as deemed
necessary. Students will be notified in a timely manner of any syllabus changes via email or Blackboard
announcement or email.