College Algebra

Come join us on a fascinating journey through college algebra. Along the way we will meet Fibonacci, Omar Khayyam, Hypatia of Alexandria, and other people connected to the topics we cover. As our journey takes us to Toledo, Spain; Alexandria, Egypt; and other interesting places, we connect our studies to The Da Vinci Code, the Mona Lisa, the human cannonball, and other things that, at first glance, may not seem connected to mathematics, but in fact are well connected.

Instructor

Pat McKeague

Mathematics Instructor

Pat McKeague earned his B.A. in Mathematics from California State University, Northridge and his M.S. in Mathematics from BYU. He has been involved in mathematics education for over 35 years, both as an instructor, and as a textbook author. He has written more than 20 textbooks. He is very active in the mathematics community, speaking at regional and national mathematics conferences throughout the year. He was on the writing team for the American Mathematics Association for Two-Year College (AMATYC) Beyond Crossroads project, which set the standards for mathematics instruction at the two-year college. In 2007 he was awarded the AMATYC Presidential Award for his service to the two-year college mathematics community. Three years ago he started his own publishing company, XYZ Textbooks, with the goal of lowering the cost of mathematics textbooks for community college students. IN HIS OWN WORDS: I have had a wonderful, varied teaching career, from teaching elementary school classes, all the way through to freshman calculus at the university. I am best suited to community college teaching. My heart is in the developmental mathematics courses. Don't get me wrong, I love to teach calculus, but I identify more closely with the developmental math students, and I think I am more effective there. Throughout my career I have been extremely lucky to have students that always impressed me with their willingness to improve their position in life through education.