Quantitative Analysis
Tradition has it that the phrase “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here” was inscribed above the entrance to Plato’s Academy. Plato was not obsessed with triangles, but desired his students to be well-versed in a certain way of thinking that the study of geometry, and mathematics in general, conveys.
Mathematics is a cognitive process that requires critical thinking: reading and re-reading, gathering data, formulating an abstract model to understand and solve a problem, assessing various tools and perspectives at one’s disposal, and taking a series of small and logical steps to arrive at a solution, or an approximation of a solution, all the while assessing the path one is taking, adjusting or backtracking as necessary, and reformulating or tweaking the model. It is a way of learning, knowing, investigating, describing, predicting, analyzing, and understanding.
The fundamental aim of the requirement in Quantitative Analysis is to help students develop and strengthen their abilities to engage in this deep and broad, deliberate thought process.
Students must take one course:
- MATH 100
- MATH 101
- MATH 109
- MATH 111
- MATH 113
- STAT 220