Elementary Mathematical Modeling: Functions and Graphs

This book helps readers develop the quantitative literacy skills and savvy needed to function effectively in society and the workplace. It focuses on "mathematical modeling" and the use of elementary mathematics--e.g., numbers and measurement, algebra, geometry, and data exploration--to investigate real-world problems and questions. It assumes no technology other than the use of graphing calculators, and provides a comprehensive technology support system on an accompanying CD-ROM and web site. Linear Functions and Models. Quadratic Functions and Models. Natural Growth Models. Exponential and Trigonometric Models. Polynomial Models and Linear Systems. Optimization Problems. Bounded Growth Models. For anyone wanting to develop proficiency in mathematical modeling.

MARY ELLEN DAVIS Georgia Perimeter College, received her Master of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1976. She has taught mathematics at the secondary level and at Georgia State University and the University of Birmingham (England). She joined the mathematics department at Georgia Perimeter College (then DeKalb College) in 1991 and has taught a wide range of courses from college algebra to calculus and statistics. She was instrumental in the piloting and implementing of the college's Introduction to Mathematical Modeling course in 1998. She was selected as a Georgia Governor's Teaching Fellow in 1996, and in 1999 received a GPC Distance Education Fellowship to develop web-based materials for applied calculus.

C. HENRY EDWARDS (Ph.D. University of Tennessee) Emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Georgia, Edwards recently retired after 40 years of undergraduate classroom teaching at the universities of Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Although respected for his diverse research interests, Edwards' first love has always remained teaching. Throughout his teaching career he has received numerous college- and university-wide teaching awards, including the University of Georgia's honoratus medal in 1983 and its Josiah Meigs award in 1991. In 1997, Edwards was the first university-level faculty recipient of the Georgia Board of Regents newly-instituted state-wide award for teaching excellence.

A prolific author, Edwards is co-author of well-known calculus and differential equations textbooks and has written a book on the history of mathematics, in addition to several instructional computer manuals. During the 1990s, Edwards has worked on three NSF-supported projects that fostered a better integration of technology into the mathematics curriculum. The last three years of his long teaching career were devoted principally to the development of a new technology-intensive entry-level mathematics course on which this new textbook is based. Additional information is provided on his web page www.math.uga.edu/~hedwards.