Videos

Lecture Videos – Here you will find the YouTube playlist for the class

Syllabus

Syllabus – Here you will find the syllabus for the course

Homework

Click here to access the WeBWork homework. Log in according to instructions in the syllabus. If you have any trouble doing so, email me.

Test Reviews

Review for test 1

Here is the review guide for the first exam. It comes to you in the form of a practice test and a mock test–the links to which can be found below. It is important to note that the test as written here is 50 minutes long, and your test will also be 50 minutes long. Follow the instructions below to ensure that you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck when studying. Do NOT look at any answers until you have attempted the problems yourself under the conditions mentioned! Read through the instructions below carefully before accessing any materials, and follow the instructions!

Step 0: Make sure you have the right materials. You can NOT use graphing calculators so make sure you have a calculator that is allowed. I sent an email a while ago stating some recommendations. Other than that, you only need something to write with.

Step 1: Go over the items you will be expected to be able to do on the test. These are:

All topics from the financial math section of the course. Including but not limited to: computing the various kinds of interest (simple, compound, and continuous), computing APY, using the Sinking Fund formula and Amortization formula to answer word problems. I will provide formulas for the financial math section of the exam, but I will not be providing any other formulas.
Matrix algebra (addition/subtraction/multiplication/scalar multiplication of matrices). How to solve systems of linear equations using matrices. How to find inverses of matrices and use those to solve systems.
Linear programming. Given a word problem, be able to set up and solve a linear programming problem, including sketching the feasible region.
Set theory: know how to solve various problems with sets, including, but not limited to, Venn diagram problems.
The test may contain a bonus section in which you can be asked to answer either harder set theory problems, or combinatorics problems (problems where you’re asked to count the number of ways something can happen).

WARNING: Don’t spend too much time reviewing the above! A couple hours tops. You already put in the time and effort into these topics by doing homework and the problems I asked you to do for class, you just want to hone your skills a bit and brush up. Anything more is wasting time. You want to assess how you will do on a long form test as soon as possible, so don’t wait too long to start step 2.

Step 2: After doing your quick brush-up of the topics, complete the practice problems below. Your aim should be to solve these problems correctly in 6 minutes or less per problem. The answers are found at the end of the document, so that you can check your answers. But it is on you to make sure you know the correct way to get to the answer, because you will need to show your work for all problems!

Test 1 Practice Problems (not including matrices and linear programming)

Test 1 Practice Problems (Matrices, systems of equations and Linear Programming)

Step 3: Use your performance on the practice problems above to gauge how well you know the topics and where your gaps are. Learn anything you messed up on, and then try NEW problems on the topics. New problems can be found in your text or any finite math text. Remember to time yourself while doing the problems! It’s important to know the kinds of mistakes you make when rushing.

Step 4: Keep practicing until you feel SOLID on all the topics. This doesn’t mean you got problems right here or there, it means you are confident that it would be VERY hard for you to get them wrong. There’s a difference–getting something right once can be a fluke, getting different problems in a topic correct, over and over until you can get them right and be a little bored while getting them right means you “understand” the topic. Don’t take too long in this phase either. Take 2 days or so and MASTER the topics.

Step 5: Take a practice test below. Under test conditions. Set a timer for 50 minutes, and complete the entire test in one sitting. Pretend it is really a test. You can only have your calculator and something to write with. You should NOT get help from anyone or anything. Copy the financial math formulas on a new sheet of paper, do NOT use your notebook to look up the formulas during this practice test.

Practice Test 1

Your test might NOT be exactly like this, but it should be close. STOP writing when 50 minutes have passed!

Step 6: Look over your work and how you did. Perhaps check with a classmate or a tutor about something you’re not sure about. Reason with them, the easier the answer comes to you, the less impact it will make, so don’t just ask someone else to do the problem for you.

Step 7: Check the answers to the practice test here. Best case scenario is that you got everything right the FIRST time you went through the test. Otherwise, go back to the drawing board and study again. Have someone make up another test for you based on this format (a tutor would be good), and then take that again as a test. After each test, fill in any gaps that remain. Rinse and repeat until you’re consistently scoring in the A-range.

Step 8: Ask Jhevon for help at any point after step 3 if you feel you need to.

Review for test 2

Here is the review guide for the second exam. It comes to you in the form of practice tests–the links to which can be found below. It is important to note that the test as written here is 50 minutes long, and your test will also be 50 minutes long. Follow the instructions below to ensure that you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck when studying. Do NOT look at any answers until you have attempted the problems yourself under the conditions mentioned! Read through the instructions below carefully before accessing any materials, and follow the instructions!

Step 1: Go over the items you will be expected to be able to do on the test. These are:

All topics from the probability section of this course, including but not limited to: finding basic probabilities, constructing probability distributions and finding expected value, using Bayes’ rule in various forms.
Matrix algebra (addition/subtraction/multiplication/scalar multiplication of matrices) and solving problems with Markov chains (including sketching transition diagrams).
The test may contain a bonus section in which you can be asked to answer either harder set theory problems, or combinatorics problems (problems where you’re asked to count the number of ways something can happen).

Step 2: After doing your quick brush-up of the topics, complete the practice tests below. Do one, evaluate yourself, fill in your gaps, then do the next and repeat. Your aim should be to solve these problems correctly in 6 minutes or less per problem. Do not look at the answers until you’ve attempted the problems yourself, and time yourself while attempting them! The answers are after each test. It is on you to make sure you know the correct way to get to the answer, because you will need to show your work for all problems! Give yourself 50 minutes for each test, and complete the test in one sitting under test conditions. Your test might NOT be exactly like these, but it should be close. You’ll be required to draw transition diagrams, so make sure you do that for any Markov chain problems. STOP writing when 50 minutes have passed!

Practice Test 2 version 1

Answers to practice test 2 version 1

Practice Test 2 Version 2

Answers to Practice Test 2 Version 2

Step 3: Look over your work and how you did. Perhaps check with a classmate or a tutor about something you’re not sure about. Reason with them, the easier the answer comes to you, the less impact it will make, so don’t just ask someone else to do the problem for you.

Step 4: Ask Jhevon for help at any point after step 3 if you feel you need to.

Step 5: Here are some misc. practice problems from the last part of probability we did, some Markov chain, Bayes’ theorem, and expected value problems.

Rando practice problems with answers at the end.

Final Exam Review (READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!)

The review comes in the form of practice finals that you should take according to the guidelines of the past practice tests (VERY IMPORTANT–if you haven’t been doing that and you’re grades aren’t what you’d like, chances are that’s where you’re going wrong).

Take each exam under test conditions, give yourself 2 hours per test.
Assess how you did after each test, and then fill in your gaps and try another. Some problems between the practice tests may be similar.
Only what you can do on your own without help or hints from any source matters. That being said, when you’re ASSESSING (as in, not while you’re taking the test, but afterwards when you’re looking over what you did), it is generally more efficient to fill in your gaps with the help of a study group or tutor. Meaning, when and if you consult these sources, you bring to them a completed work that you did on your own. Otherwise, you’re likely wasting your time.
Below are the mock finals. There is a formula sheet on the second to last page, the last page has the answers. DO NOT LOOK AT THE LAST PAGE UNTIL YOU’VE COMPLETED THE FINAL! When printing, choose the option NOT to print the final page.
There is, of course, no guarantee that your final will look exactly like one of these, but you’re expected to know the any topic that shows up on these finals, or in class at any point. It would be a good idea to go through previous tests, or problems given in class problem sets, or similar problems in the text.