MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World

Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________

Lesson Title: Articulating the Importance of Mathematics Materials:

in the Modern World Student activity sheets

Lesson Objectives: At the end of this module, you should be References:

able to: https://www.niu.edu/mathmatters/ev
1. Appreciate real life applications in different fields. eryday-life/index.shtml
2. State the importance of mathematics in technology. https://lifehacks.io/reasons-whymath-
is-important/

Productivity Tip: “Start strong! Train your brain to shift to work mode by setting a regular time during the day
for your lessons. Set an alarm and stick to your working hours.”

A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW

Introduction (2 mins)
Welcome to MAT 152: Math in the Modern World! This course deals with the real-world application of
mathematical tools. It involves nature of mathematics, numeracy, and number sense applied to business,
finance, environment, arts and design and recreation. In this course, you will learn the importance of
mathematics in the real world and how it is directly applied. But before we proceed with the applications,
let’s define mathematics first.

Mathematics is the science of structure, order, and relation that has evolved from elemental practices of
counting, measuring, and describing the shapes of objects. It deals with logical reasoning and quantitative
calculation, and its development has involved an increasing degree of idealization and abstraction of its
subject matter. Since the 17th century, mathematics has been an indispensable adjunct to the physical
sciences and technology, and in more recent times it has assumed a similar role in the quantitative
aspects of the life sciences. (www.britannica.com)

B. MAIN LESSON

While reading the Content notes, make the best effort to comprehend and remember keywords as
your guide in understanding the importance of mathematics in real-life, not just the theories and
processes but how it applies significantly to actual situations.

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________

Content Notes
In the Figure 1 below, write a word or group of words after each arrow that you can connect to the word
MATH according to its importance in your life.

Importance of Mathematics
Mathematics can teach us how to look for solutions and reasons logically − a skill applicable to any career
and life in general. Almost every student studies math during their academic life. We know that math is an
essential part of the world. It is almost everywhere, from counting to evidence seeking.

1. Math is good for the brain promotes logical and analytical thinking. A study done by Dr. Tanya
Evans at Stanford University proved that the students who solve math problems in their daily life have
higher logical skills than those students who don’t solve the problems. Students also solve math problems
for their brain exercise and to make their bodies stay fit. If we are able to understand mathematics and
arrive at logical solutions, we will be able to prepare our minds when we have real problems.

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________
2. Math helps you with your finances. With the help of math, you can easily make your financial budget.
You can calculate how much money you have, how you can spend your money, and how you can save
money. Businessman uses math to calculate their profit, loss, loans, investments and many more..

3. Math makes you a better cook. Almost every recipe, there is a need to put the ingredients. Therefore,
to make anything delicious, the cook needs to know the perfect measurements of the ingredients. Apart
from that, if the cook needs to cook food for many people, then they need to know how to increase
ingredients are required.

4. Every career uses math. There is no profession in the world that doesn’t use math. We know that
mathematicians and scientists rely on mathematical principles to perform their basic work. From blue-
collar factory workers to the managerial level white-collar professionals, everyone uses math in their work.
The use of math varies for every career.

5. Time management. Time is the key to success for everyone and being more calculative helps us to do
better time management. With the help of math, you can make a wise decision on how you can spend
your time effectively. If you are doing your homework, then you can also calculate how much time will
require to finish the task. Especially during your mathematics exams, you can calculate the time that will
take to solve the particular question.

6. Helps you understand the world better. Every single part of nature is based on math. You can also
put the math calculation to understand nature creations. From golden ratio formula to mathematical figure
in the real world, like the hexagonal bee combs, spider webs, Triangle Mountains, and many more.
Mathematics can explain how things work, that is, we can express our thoughts and ideas with clarity,
coherence, and precision.

7. Mathematics is essential in a world of constant change. New technologies are changing the way
we work and live. Mathematics can be very useful in understanding how and why things work the way they
work from beginning to the new world.
.

Skill-building Activities

Instructions: After reading the different applications of mathematics listed below (#1-5), complete the table
with your own explanations on how mathematics is applied on several other fields (#6-10)

Applications of Mathematics

1. Predicting the The weather is a complex system with billions of molecules interacting, thus
Weather predicting the weather a surprisingly difficult tasks even using the extensive

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________
network of weather stations satellites and supercomputers. Fluids like the
atmosphere follow a set of rules called the Navier Stokes equations.

2. Game Theory Many games involve rolling dice, shuffling cards or spinning wheels, and we can
use probability to determine how likely certain outcomes are. The game chess is
so complex, with so many different moves and positions, that it is almost
impossible to analyze chess without any application of mathematical theories.

3. Artificial Programming a robot meant giving instructions of what the robot should do. The
Intelligence recent success of AI comes from the fact that the robots are programmed to learn
and his learning process is made possible because of the massive data available.

4. Crowd Control Large crowds at sports matches, concerts, festivals, or religious events are
inherently dangerous. In the past, records of tragic accidents and viral spreads,
since it is difficult to predict the behavior of crowds. Mathematical modelling of
events are often applied to lessen the risks.

5. Medicine Math is especially helpful in the case of viruses because the protein shells of most
viruses are essentially geometric puzzles. The short genetic sequences of viruses
code only a few distinctly shaped proteins, but these proteins can self-assemble
into a variety of different 3D shapes. These structures are used to make the shell
which encapsulates the viral genes, forming a virus that is ready to infect new
organisms.

6. Computer
Games

7. Loans and
Interest

8. Polling and
Voting

9. Satellite
Navigation

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________

10. Public
Transportation

“Check your answers against the Key to Corrections found at the end of this SAS.
Write your score on your paper.”.

Check for Understanding

Instructions: Write a short paragraph about your thoughts on the quote below. Answer
in 5-8 sentences, min 100 - max 150 words

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________
“Check your answers against the Key to Corrections found at the end of this SAS.
Write your score on your paper.”

C. LESSON WRAP-UP

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What's the largest number?
There is no largest number! Why? Well, 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) can't be the largest number
because1 billion + 1 is bigger - but that is true for any number you pick. You can choose any big
number and I can make a bigger one just by adding 1 to it.

2) What is infinity?
Infinity is not a number; it is the name for a concept. Most people have sort of an intuitive idea of
what infinity is - it's a quantity that's bigger than any number. There are no numbers bigger than
infinity, but that does not mean that infinity is the biggest number, because it's not a number at all.

3) Why do we need to learn math?

There are actually thousands of different jobs that require some knowledge of mathematics.
Because mathematics is intriguing. As Bertrand Russell put it, "Mathematics is the subject in which
we do not know what we are talking about nor whether what we say is true." So, perhaps, first and
foremost, we should study it to find out what it is.
Mathematical training will help you to better understand science and technology and their effects on
our world.

4) What science has to do with math?

It has to do with measurement. Measurement is a major contribution of math to the many areas of
science. Not just length, either, but also time, velocity, quantity, volume, and even probability.
Math is also used in science to prove formulas from the basic concepts of how our universe works
(we call these first principles).
Math has often been referred to as the language of science, as everything we do involves math, from
the formulas we use to model the world, to the trials and measurements we use to test and apply.
Math can be a great friend to you in whatever you want to do, so keep up the good work.

Thinking about learning

This time, let’s end the module activities by answering the following questions about your learning
experience.

1. What felt confusing about what you learned today? Why?

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. What motivated you to finish the lesson today?
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

KEY TO CORRECTIONS

Skill-building Activities: "Give yourselves 1 point if your answer was brief, and 2 points if your answer was
well explained."
Applications of Mathematics

6. Computer Many computer games use 3D graphics. Moving and animating these on a two-
Games dimensional screen as well as rendering colors light and shadows requires
vectors matrices and many other concepts from linear algebra and 3D geometry.
Computer programs have to generate random numbers to make the game more
interesting and model the artificial intelligence of virtual players.

7. Loans and Simple interest computation is rarely used in business. More common is
Interest compound interest where at the end of each period interest is recalculated on the
amount of money outstanding at this time. Interest are computed at different rates
in auto loans, credit cards purchases, and home mortgages.

8. Polling and Voting sounds easy when you choose with just two candidates, but when you
Voting have three or more options to choose from, it’s mathematically impossible to find
a fair way to vote, then probability theory can be useful in this situation.

9. Satellite To determine any location on Earth satellite navigation systems like GPS use
Navigation signals from satellites which provide extremely accurate times. By finding their
delay a computer can calculate how far away the satellites are. If you know the
distance from at least three different satellites and the position of these satellites
you can find the unique and exact position of the receiver on Earth.

10. Public All planes all luggage every crew and all passengers have to be at the right place
Transportation at the right time and planes need to be serviced and refueled. Most importantly
planes can’t crash when arriving at any of the busy airports. This is an incredibly

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 MAT 152: Mathematics in the Modern World
Module #1 Student Activity Sheet

Name: _________________________________________________________________
Class number: _______
Section: ____________ Schedule: ________________________________________ Date:
________________ complex logistic challenge impossible without mathematics. Similar challenges
arise when scheduling trains buses mail delivery or emergency services.

Check for Understanding: Criteria for writing a short paragraph. Give yourself 5 points! No wrong answer
here as long as your paragraphs discusses opinions and ideas about the quote based on the given criteria.

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