Yes! I am using the Litvins' text too. I have been using my AP
Computer Science class as guinea pigs trying out this text. It is
definitely at a very introductory level and I am going to use it as
such. With my intro kids it will probably take 2 semesters especially
if I do a 2 week final project each semester. This year I did a
couple of weeks on programming a TI83 the first semester and some c++
the second.
HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math & CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
Sent from my iPod
On Jun 7, 2010, at 8:13 PM, michel paul <mpaul...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 6:27 AM, David Joyner <wdjoy...@gmail.com>
wrote:
>Are you going to teach programming (eg, Python) in this course?
Exactly. We'll be using the Litvins' Math for the Digital Age and
Programming in Python, and I think we can work through that text in
a semester. Though it does touch on some precalc topics, it is not
specifically a precalc text, so we'll also draw from our regular
text to fill in the gaps. Then second semester we'll focus on the
remaining precalc topics not addressed in Digital Age. The kids
should be proficient enough at that point in using Sage to be able
to write little papers about the math we're studying. Each student
will have an online Sage notebook account that will serve as a
portfolio of their work.
Seems like you are leaning towards discrete math+precalc topics.
Is that correct?
Our current precalc text, Demana Waits, does contain a chapter on
discrete math - basic combinatorics, sequences, series, binomial
theorem, math induction, etc., but again, it's towards the end of
the text and is normally done 2nd semester. I think a lot of those
topics could easily be done first semester and would have more
relevance for learning programming. So I'm going to change some
things around and save the trig stuff and the analytic geometry for
2nd semester.
Eventually a computational discrete math course would also be a
great thing to create. There actually used to be a ProbStat/Finite
math course at our school, but it was tracked for the 'lower' math
students, the ones 'not headed for calculus', and I really disliked
the illusion it created that 'Finite was for dummies' or 'not real
math'.
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