Welcome to

with Mr. Serino

IntroductionMathematical Decision Making

(MDM)

The main intent of the course is to supply students with the skills necessary to make good informed decisions based on facts and mathematical methods rather than taking chances by basing decisions on emotion, guessing, and politics.

IntroductionMathematical Decision Making (MDM) will consist of two major topics:

Discrete Mathematics

and

Probability & Statistics

PrerequisitesTo be successful in this course, students should be Seniors (12th grade students) who have taken Algebra 2 and who have a good understanding of Prealgebra skills (specifically fractions and percents).

Some experience with graphical models may also be helpful, but not necessary.

PrerequisitesStudents should be open minded and prepared to be challenged.

Caution: Because the skill based prerequisites only require prealgebra, the beginning of many topics may appear to be mathematically trivial. Don’t be fooled, higher order thinking skills will be necessary to complete most topics.

Required MaterialsStudents are expected to show up to class on time with all required materials.•Writing utensil: A pencil is preferred, but a pen with blue or black ink is acceptable.•Binder: A one-inch, three ring binder is mandatory. The binder should contain all MDM course work and a sufficient amount of paper for notes and class work.•Calculator: Although not mandatory, calculators will be very useful throughout the course.•Ear Buds (or headphones): Some presentations and videos will contain audio.

Binder OrganizationStudent binders should be set up exactly as follows. There should be 4 sections.

1. Notes and handouts2. Homework and class work (with a table

of contents)3. Tests and quizzes (with corrections)4. Miscellaneous

Notes & Handouts

Because a textbook will not be used, there will be a lot of notes and handouts. Most sets of notes will be provided as handouts. Students are expected to write information on the notes pages as it is covered in class or in presentations. Handouts typically contain reading assignments and problem sets. All notes pages, handouts, worksheets, and reading assignments will be available online. http://lynnenglishfaculty.org/serino/

Homework/class workA table of contents MUST be kept at the beginning of the homework/classwork section of your notebook.

Every new assignment should start on a new piece of paper. All assignments should be labeled with a title (or page and problem numbers), the date, and the assignment number. The assignment number should appear at the top right-hand corner of the page. Students should show all work on each assignment.