THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 0996F Date of Senate Approval 12/05/96 Statement of Faculty Senate Action: APC Document 7: Catalog Changes for the Department of Mathematics Effective Date: Fall, 1997 1) Elimination of MATH 105 page 174 middle of the page DELETE: "105 Intermediate Algebra (3) Algebraic expressions, linear and quadratic equations ... ... Course offered every fall semester." Other references to this course are: page 175 under MATH 167 DELETE: "Prerequisites: MATH 105, or two years of high school algebra" ADD: "Prerequisites: the equivalence of two years of high school algebra" page 48 under General Education Requirements (See last item in this document) page 50 middle of the page under College Skills DELETE: "MATH 105 Intermediate Algebra 3 semester hours" Rationale: In recent years this course has suffered from low enrollment. See Table Enrollment Trend for MATH 105 Year 88/89 89/90 90/91 91/92 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 Enrollment 151 59 63 43 29 15 20 11 14 Legislative pressure will eventually mandate the removal of this course from our catalog; before that happens, it seems best to do it ourselves. Impact: The handful of students presently enrolled will be inconvenienced by either having to take the more difficult course, MATH 163, at UNCA or Intermediate Algebra at a community college. The Mathematics Assistance Center will also feel the impact, but due to the small numbers of students in this class Peter Kendrick, the center's director, feels that they will be able to manage. 2) Modifications to MATH 163 and MATH 164 DELETE: "163 College Algebra (3) A study of linear, quadratic, exponential, ... ... Course offered every semester." ADD: "163 Applied Algebra (4) A study of algebraic, exponential and rational functions and their applications. Topics will include graphing, the solving of equations, and mathematical modeling. (Students may not receive credit for both MATH 163 and 167.) Course offered every semester. DELETE: "164 Trigonometry (3) Circular functions, identities, equations, ... ... Course offered every semester." ADD: "164 Trigonometry (2) A study of trigonometric functions, identities, equations and their applications. Topics will include complex numbers and polar coordinates. Prerequisite: MATH 163. (Students may not receive credit for both MATH 164 and 167.) Course offered every semester. Rationale: In 1985 when UNCA restructured its general education curriculum it included in its list of required courses a mathematics course that stressed mathematical applications. In response to this the department created a new course MATH 155, the Nature of Mathematics. However, as many departments required specific Mathematics courses, this meant that many students would have had to take an additional 4 hours of general education mathematics in spite of the fact that their major already required up to 18 hours of mathematics. Thus, almost all preexisting mathematics classes were automatically included as possible alternatives to MATH 155. MATH 163 has always been a popular choice for students. It is taken not only by students whose major requires it, but also by students who are enticed by a 3-hour mathematics class which is a repeat of their last high school class. It also has the advantage that unlike MATH 155 it is accepted by many departments as a Mathematics option. MATH 163 / 164 is a sequence of two course sequence each of which covers half the topics in precalculus. Both courses stress mathematical skills and drill students in techniques needed for calculus. The departments requiring it (Biology, Environmental Studies, Economics, and Music) would like their students to take calculus, but are willing to settle for College Algebra, the prerequisite for Calculus. The suggested changes would offer the students a course, MATH 163, which would be different from their high school Algebra. The new approach to teaching this class would be more in line with the other general education mathematics classes presently being offered. This course would finally be what is called for in Senate Document SD3684, "A student must complete a 4-hour course at the level of college algebra emphasizing word problems." The higher number of credit hours for MATH 163 reflects a partition of the courses by subject matter rather than the previous division of topics into two equal parts. MATH 163 will contain all the typical algebra topics, while MATH 164 will only contain Trigonometry. The new distribution of credit hours has the additional advantage that all math general education choices will now have the same amount of credit. Impact: When counting sections (excluding MATH 105) there will be a slight increase in instructional activity; thus the university could incur a slight additional expenses if a daytime adjunct instructor has to be hired. (The evening instructor usually teaches the sequence MATH 163/164 which still totals 6 hours). However, since 4-hour classes are the norm in the mathematics department, scheduling faculty for 12 hours will be much easier, and most day classes are taught by the faculty. The table below gives the precalculus offerings (MATH 105, 163, 164, and 167) from the last two years and the projected offerings for next year. Number of Sections (with total number of teaching hours) Math Course 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring 105 1 0 ( 3) 1 0 ( 3) 0 0 ( 0) 163 4 2 (18) *4 1 (16) 4 1 (20) 164 3 2 (15) 1 2 (9) 1 2 (6) 167 1 0 ( 5) 2 1 (12) 2 1 (12) --------------------------------------------------------- Total 9 4 (41) 8 4 (40) 7 4 (38) *Includes the 4 hour Earth Algebra class, MATH 174. Students in Biology, Environmental Studies, and Economics could have an increase of an additional hour. These students, however, will have the opportunity to take a course that is in the spirit of UNCA's interdisciplinary approach to education. 3) Description of General Education options in mathematics. page 48 under Mathematics (3-4 semester hours) DELETE: "All students are required to take 3-4 semester hours of Mathematics to satisfy the general education requirement. Mathematics Courses (select one) MATH 155 Nature of Mathematics 4 semester hours MATH 191 Calculus I 4 semester hours STAT 185 Introductory Statistics 4 semester hours Students may elect to take ... ... these higher level courses were taken." ADD: "All students are required to take 3-4 semester hours of Mathematics to satisfy the general education requirement. Mathematics Courses (select one) MATH 155 Nature of Mathematics 4 semester hours MATH 163 Applied Algebra 4 semester hours MATH 167 Precalculus 4 semester hours MATH 191 Calculus I 4 semester hours STAT 185 Introductory Statistics 4 semester hours "Students may also elect to take the two course sequence MATH 157/158 to complete the general education mathematics requirement." Rationale: The Senate has requested that the mathematics department change the wording of the paragraph addressing the general education requirements in mathematics. In its present form, any special topics course in mathematics would count toward general education. This is not acceptable. The new wording alleviates the problem without changing the gist of the paragraph. Presently, a student enrolling in a higher-numbered class would already have had a substantial mathematics background, so any reference to higher-numbered courses is unnecessary. The third sentence, addressing MATH 105, is no longer needed because that course will no longer be taught. The last sentence, the one that mentions MATH 155, was eliminated because it does not contain any essential information. The resulting new paragraph is more clear and less verbose then the previous one. Impact: The new statement does not automatically give a special topics course general education status. It also does not allow for MATH 164 to carry general education credit, but this should not cause a problem since MATH 164 is only for those students who have passed MATH 163, i.e. those students who have already passed a general education mathematics class. Students are presently no longer placed into MATH 164 during freshman orientation. 4) Modifications to Linear and Matrix Algebra, MATH 365 and MATH 266 page 175 bottom of the page DELETE: "266 Matrix Algebra with Applications (3) Basics concepts of matrix Algebra; ... ... Course offered every even year fall semester." page 176 under MATH 365 DELETE: "Systems of linear equations ... ... every odd year fall and spring semesters." ADD: "Study of the theory and applications of systems of linear equations, vector spaces, matrices, linear transformations, determinants, and eigen-vectors. Specific topics include inner product spaces, Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization, and the diagonalization of matrices. Prerequisite: MATH 192. Course offered every Fall" Other places where MATH 266 is mentioned in the catalogue: page 173 under Program in Statistics, item I. DELETE: "35 hours, including: MATH 191, 192, 266 or 365, 280, 291 (18 hours)" ADD: "35 hours, including: MATH 191, 192, 280, 291, and 365 (18 hours)" page 176 under the description of MATH 366 DELETE: Prerequisite: MATH 365. ADD: Prerequisites: MATH 280 and 365. Page 177 under the description of MATH 391 DELETE: (MATH 266 or 365 is strongly recommended) ADD: (MATH 365 is recommended) Page 214 under the description of STAT 327 DELETE: Prerequisites: three or four hours in any other Statistics course, and MATH 266 and MATH 365. ADD: Prerequisites: three or four hours in any other Statistics course and MATH 365. Rationale: The two courses, Matrix Algebra (MATH 266) and Linear Algebra I (MATH 365) cover very similar topics. (There were years when both courses used the same book and had similar syllabi.) The intent of the first was to focus on applications while the second was the first course in a two-part sequence which focused on theory. MATH 266 was thus predominantly for computer science while MATH 365 was strictly for majors. Ever since computer science discontinued the MATH 266 requirement both courses have low enrollments. (MATH 266 present enrollment is 11 while MATH 365's last enrollment was 6.) Impact: The new restructure of the department's Linear Algebra course offerings will reduce the redundancy of our courses. Math majors will still be offered linear algebra annually even though the course selection has been reduced. By dropping the MATH 280 prerequisite and adding more applied topics to MATH 365, this course will be more attractive to students outside the major, and should increase enrollment. The focus from theory to application in this course should not have a major impact on our program, since many of the core courses are theoretical in nature. Coordination: (See cover sheet) 4) Renumbering MATH 380 Page 177 second item on the page. DELETE: 380 Mathematics Seminar (1) ADD: 480 Senior Seminar (1) Other places where MATH 380 is mentioned. Page 172 under Program in Pure Mathematics, item I DELETE: "At least 1 hour in MATH 380 and 1 hour in MATH 381;" ADD: "At least 1 hour in MATH 381 and 1 hour in MATH 480;" Page 172 under Program in Pure Mathematics, item III DELETE: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 380." ADD: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 480." Page 173 top of the page, Program in Pure Mathematics, item I DELETE: "At least 1 hour in MATH 380 and 1 hour in MATH 381;" ADD: "At least 1 hour in MATH 381 and 1 hour in MATH 480;" Page 173 top of page, item III DELETE: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 380." ADD: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 480." Page 173 under Program in Applied Mathematics, item I DELETE: "At least 1 hour in MATH 380 and 1 hour in MATH 381;" ADD: "At least 1 hour in MATH 381 and 1 hour in MATH 480;" Page 173 under Program in Applied Mathematics, item III DELETE: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 380." ADD: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 480." Page 173 under Program in Statistics, item I DELETE: "At least 1 hour in MATH 380 and 1 hour in MATH 381;" ADD: "At least 1 hour in MATH 381 and 1 hour in MATH 480;" Page 174 top of the page, item III DELETE: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 380." ADD: "... presentation of one seminar in MATH 480." Page 174 under Mathematics Minor DELETE: "... no more than one credit in MATH 380 or one credit in MATH 381." ADD: "... no more than one credit in MATH 381 or one credit in MATH 480." Rationale: MATH 380 is an important component of the Mathematics curriculum and is frequently taken by students in their senior year. The two courses, MATH 380 (Mathematics Seminar) and MATH 381 (Problems in Mathematics), though technically not a sequence are frequently taken in tandem. To emphasize that MATH 380 should be taken after MATH 381, it is recommended that its number be raised. Impact: None. Coordination: Not applicable.