Syllabus for BUS–161
BUSINESS MATHEMATICS
With a growing need for record keeping, establishing budgets, and understanding finance, taxation, and investment opportunities, mathematics has become a greater part of our daily lives. Business Mathematics attempts to apply mathematics to daily business experiences. Success in business relies more than ever upon the ability of managers to keep careful records, establish budgets, and understand finance, taxation, and investment opportunities. This course will help students use mathematics to their advantage in daily business practices.
After completing this course, you should be able to:
You will need the following materials to complete your coursework. Some course materials may be free, open source, or available from other providers. You can access free or open-source materials by clicking the links provided below or in the module details documents. To purchase course materials, please visit the University's textbook supplier.
Business Mathematics is a three-credit online course, consisting of seven modules. Modules include an overview, topics, learning objectives, study materials, and assignments.
For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, take a proctored online midterm examination, and complete a final project. See below for more details.
Consult the Course Calendar for assignment due dates.
One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in this document.
Introduction to Business has four graded online discussions, each focusing on a different subject. There is also an ungraded but required discussion in Module 1 titled "Introductions." All class discussions take place on the class Discussion Board.
Communication among fellow students and with the mentor is a critical component of online learning. Participation in online discussions involves two distinct assignments: an initial response to a posted question (discussion thread) and subsequent comments on classmates' responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. In this course, in your comments to your classmates you are expected to compare your answers with theirs, and then express agreement or disagreement. Be sure to support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.
For posting guidelines and help with discussion forums, please see the Student Handbook located within the General Information page of the course Web site.
Business Mathematics requires that you complete and submit seven written assignments. They are built around associated textbook chapters assigned in your reading schedule. Each written assignment consists of problems contained in your textbook. The page numbers on which these problems can be found are listed in the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site.
You will be assigned and are to submit even-numbered problems only. The odd-numbered problems in your textbook have answers at the back of the text; they can be used as a self-test to see whether you understand how to do a particular type of problem.
Take the time to familiarize yourself with the Assignment Modules area of the course Web site, and read through the written assignment questions before you begin each module.
Prepare your written assignments using whatever word processing program you have on your computer. Include your name at the top of the paper, as well as the course name and code and the semester and year in which you are enrolled. Assignments must be prepared electronically, preferably with whatever equation editor comes with your word processing software.
Before submitting your first assignment, check with your mentor to determine whether your word processing software is compatible with your mentor's software. If so, you can submit your work as you prepared it. If not, save your assignment as a rich-text (.rtf) file, using the Save As command of your software program. Rich text retains basic formatting and can be read by any other word processing program.
When preparing your answers, please identify each item clearly by chapter number, page number, and item number.
To receive full credit for your answers, you must show all work as well as your final answer.
For help regarding preparing and submitting assignments, see the Student Handbook located within the General Information page of the course Web site.
You are required to take two proctored online examinations: a midterm exam and a final exam. Both exams require that you use the University's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the "Examinations and Proctors" section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course Web site) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to schedule your exam within the first week of the semester.
Each exam consists of multiple-choice questions. Both are closed-book exams. A formula sheet with all necessary formulas will be provided when you take the exam. You may bring a blank sheets of paper for your calculations. You may not bring any notes, either typed or printed, or consult a solutions manual or any other reference sources or sources of information.
The midterm exam is a closed-book, proctored online exam. It is two hours long and covers material assigned in Modules 1-4. It consists of multiple-choice questions. You are permitted to bring blank paper for calculations. A formula sheet will be provided to you when you take the exam.
Note: You are permitted to use a calculator (scientific, graphing, or financial) but may not use a calculator on a phone, PDA, or any similar device.
The final exam is a closed-book, proctored online exam. It is two hours long and covers material assigned in Modules 5 through 7. It consists of multiple-choice questions. You are permitted to bring blank paper for calculations. A formula sheet will be provided to you when you take the exam.
Note: You are permitted to use a calculator (scientific, graphing, or financial) but may not use a calculator on a phone, PDA, or any similar device.
Online exams are administered through the course Web site. Consult the Course Calendar for the official dates of exam weeks.
You will find a sample online examination in the Tests & Quizzes area of this course site. Use this sample exam to familiarize yourself with the online testing setting and format before you take your online exam. Keep in mind the following potential differences between the sample exam and your online exam:
You are on your honor not to cheat during an exam. Cheating means:
If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in an exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.
Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:
All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:
A | = | 93–100 | C+ | = | 78–79 | |
A– | = | 90–92 | C | = | 73–77 | |
B+ | = | 88–89 | C– | = | 70–72 | |
B | = | 83–87 | D | = | 60–69 | |
B– | = | 80–82 | F | = | Below 60 |
To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or better (for an area of study course) or D or better (for a course not in your area of study), based on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.).
To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:
Consider the following study tips for success:
To ensure success in all your academic endeavors and coursework at Thomas Edison State University, familiarize yourself with all administrative and academic policies including those related to academic integrity, course late submissions, course extensions, and grading policies.
For more, see:
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