THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 3691S Date of Senate Approval 3/28/91 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: APC Document #33 Changes in Mathematics and Statistics I. PROPOSED CATALOG CHANGES IN MATHEMATICS 1. Change of prerequisite for MATH 391 (Advanced Calculus). Add to the end of the course description the following: Prerequisites: MATH 291 or permission of instructor (MATH 266 or 365 is strongly recommended). RATIONALE. Prerequisites have been inadvertently omitted in several recent catalogs, and the above are the appropriate ones for this course. 2. Policy change regarding senior competency exam (will not be stated in catalog): Students may petition to demonstrate major competency by satisfactory completion of the GRE Mathematics Test or the first Actuarial Examination. Satisfactory completion of the GRE is a score at or above the 20th percentile ranking, and that for the Actuarial Exam is a score of 5 or better. RATIONALE. The GRE may be more appropriate for students seeking graduate school and the Actuarial Exam allows students pursuing the field of statistics to pass their first examination required for recognition as a Fellow and also use this to satisfy the senior competency requirement. 3. In the Requirement III. statement for the pure math program, change phrase "major field achievement test" to the specific name of the examination: ... the ETS MFAT (Major Field Achievement Test) in Mathematics and ... Change Requirement III for the other three programs to match the pure mathematics requirement III. 4. Change the catalog description of MATH 352 as follows: MATH 352 Introduction to Mathematical Models (3) The focus of this course is to teach students the application of mathematical techniques to real world problems. Content includes: difference equations, stability analysis and chaos, Markov processes, and basic probability theory. Students will be expected to use personal computers for their projects. Prerequisite: MATH 291 or permission of the instructor. RATIONALE. This description better reflects current practice and current course content. 5. The credit requirement for MATH 380 (mentioned in Requirement I. in all programs) to 1 (one) credit hour instead of three and require 1 (one) additional credit hour in a new course (see below) MATH 381. Total required hours is reduced to 35 credit hours (instead of 36). The new statement should read (in place of the words "36 hours" and "three hours in MATH 380" in all four programs: -35 hours, including ...; at least one hour in MATH 380 and one hour in MATH 381; Reference to MATH 380 in statement of Minor requirements (for clarification): ... with no more than one credit in MATH 380 or one credit in MATH 381. The appropriate course description for MATH 380 would be changed to the following: MATH 380 Mathematics Seminar (1) Seminar in which students read background papers, participate in discussions, and lead one seminar. Prerequisites: MATH 280 and MATH 291. RATIONALE. A majority of the department feels the Mathematics Seminar requirement should be changed to reflect (a) the current background of our majors, (b) better utilization of one of the required hours to improve students' problem-solving ability, and (c) difficulty in scheduling students' requirements in their senior year. This change would be contingent on approval of Item 6 below. 6. Add a new course, MATH 381, to complement seminar requirement for majors (NOT contingent on approval of Item 5): MATH 381 Problems in Mathematics (1) This course meets once per week for the purpose of discussing and solving a variety of mathematical problems and concepts not normally covered in traditional courses. Problem-solving methods will be discussed. Topics may include, for example, number theory, coding theory, geometry, probability, and optimization. The course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: MATH 291. RATIONALE. The very important area of problem-solving is not addressed specifically in our curriculum, and a course like this is needed for majors, at least as an option for electives (in case Item 5 does not pass). II. PROPOSED CATALOG CHANGES IN STATISTICS 1. Change title and description of Statistics Program as follows: PROGRAM IN STATISTICS AND ACTUARIAL SCIENCES Drop the words "AND ACTUARIAL SCIENCES," and further change text to read PROGRAM IN STATISTICS Also note that the change needs to be made on page 168. This program is designed for students who have an interest in probability and statistics. Graduates may pursue a career in actuarial science, quality control or related fields, or enter a graduate program in statistics, mathematics, or a related discipline. RATIONALE: In the four years under the original title, we have not graduated a single student who became an actuary. Also, use of these words typically associated with courses in the theory of interest and morbidity tables, are not offered at UNCA. The new wording for the text clarifies what is actually intended for students who wish to enter this program. 2. Change the requirements for the Statistics Program as follows: I. Add the sentence at the end of the list of requirements, I: Students intending to pursue graduate study are strongly advised to take MATH 491. II. Add at the end of ", and either MGMT 200 and 380, or ECON 200 and 300, or ECON 201 and 301" ... or 6 hours at the 300-400 level approved by the Department from disciplines which routinely employ statistical methodology. RATIONALE. I. It is actually a good idea for students to become familiar with the methods of analysis if they intend to pursue graduate school. II. Allowing students to satisfy the 6-hour requirement from any 300-400 level course using statistics methods adds flexibility to their major. 3. Change the course description for STAT 321 to read: STAT 321 Exploratory Data Analysis and Nonparametric Statistics (3) The course focuses on the initial statistical techniques used to analyze data and the measures taken if assumptions for standard statistical procedures do not hold. Content may include, but is not limited to: graphical data analysis, assessing normality and transformations, nonparametric statistical inferences, identification of outliers, topics in simple regression, and introduction to time series analysis. Prerequisite: three to four hours in any other statistics course. RATIONALE. The above description provides a better idea of what is intended in the course and what topics are likely to be covered than the overly brief version currently appearing.