Math is Everywhere: Applications of Finite Math

A Faculty Project Course - Best Professors Teaching the World

Computer fonts, Angry Birds, March Madness, and Google — sound like fun?  Indeed, finite math is engaging and influences the world around us.  

Equations of lines can allow computers to create fonts, store them quite compactly, and render them at essentially any desired resolution.  Plotting the graph of a polynomial can affect how you play Angry Birds as you strive to dislodge the pesky pigs.  Linear systems model the performance of sports teams and influence which college football teams play in the new year bowl games.  You can create your own linear equations to help you create a bracket for March Madness.  Finally, probability and simulation lies at the core of the mathematical algorithm that catapulted Google as a leader in search engines.  

You benefit from applications of finite math every day.  Through this course, you can better understand how you benefit from applications of finite math in your every day life.  Along the way, you will likely learn new mathematical ideas, too.

• Over 20 lectures and 5.5 hours of content!
• Understand how you can benefit from applications of math in your every day life.

Tim Chartier is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Davidson College. He is a recipient of a national teaching award from the Mathematical Association of America. Published by Princeton University Press, Tim coauthored Numerical Methods: Design, Analysis, and Computer Implementation of Algorithms with Anne Greenbaum. As a researcher, Tim has worked with both Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories on the development and analysis of computational methods targeted to increase efficiency and robustness of numerical simulation on the lab’s supercomputers, which are among the fastest in the world. Tim’s research with and beyond the labs was recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.