Numerical Reasoning for Everyday Communication

Catalog description

COM 123 is designed for students who are either uncomfortable with numbers/mathematics and/or dislike having to sort out numbers and compute answers to questions involving numbers. The inability to deal comfortably with numbers, probability, and statistics is often called innumeracy. The skill to understand the basic principles of numbers is vital to everyday communication and is relevant to our personal and professional lives. The course endeavors to convince students of the importance of numeracy and to teach students the basic aspects of quantitative reasoning. It is understood that the real world often has less than perfect data, presents ambiguities, and results in multiple solutions that are quantitative in nature. Students will learn an array of quantitative/mathematical methods and data analytical techniques relevant to real-life applications (e.g., financial planning). The techniques include, but are not limited to: (1) basic algebra, (2) descriptive statistics, (3) creating and interpreting graphs and figures, (4) the mathematical order of operations, (5) percentages, parts, and wholes, (6) probability, (7) the difference between correlation and causation, and understanding, (8) understanding biases quantitative in nature (e.g., anchoring, representativeness). The format of the course is seminar discussion of core principles, working groups, and scheduled recitation to review core principles learned during class time.