Mathematics in Non-Math Courses

In introductory courses such as chemistry, economics, political science, and psychology, you will often see discussions of examples and topics that require an understanding of concepts in mathematics such as fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, and proportions. While the examples below are taken directly from different economics textbooks, they demonstrate the kinds of skills that you will be required to use in many non-math introductory courses.

Example

"Let's suppose that I hire unemployed resources to build a $1000 woodshed. My carpenters and lumber producers will get an extra $1000 of income. But that is not the end of the story. If they all have a marginal propensity to consume of 2/3, they will now spend $666.67 on new consumption goods. The producers of these goods will now have extra incomes of $666.67. If their MPC is also 2/3, they in turn will spend $444.44, or 2/3 of $666.67 (or 2/3 of 2/3 of 1000). The process will go on, with each new round of spending being 2/3 of the previous round."

From: Samuelson P. A. & Nordhaus, W. D. (1995)
Macroeconomics (p. 129). New York: McGraw-Hill.

The paragraph above is part of an example used in a discussion on aggregate demand. Notice the complex relationship that can develop when taking a fraction of a fraction of the original amount supplied.

Example

"Recent corporate downsizing has profoundly affected employee loyalty. A recent study surveyed nearly 3,000 employees from some of America's largest corporations. Many of these workers (42%) had experienced downsizing, 28% had seen managerial cutbacks, and one-fifth feared being fired or laid off in the near future."

From: Byrns, R.T. & Stone, G. W. (1995) Microeconomics (p. 310).
New York: Harper Collins College Publishers.

The paragraph above appears in a section on implicit labor contracts. Again, a reference is made to fractions (as well as percents, which are discussed in the second tutorial of this series, Decimals, Percents, Ratio's, and Proportions.). Full understanding of the impact of the study mentioned requires that you quickly get a sense of what these numbers mean.

In your courses, you will come across fractions in discussions and be asked to perform calculations using these. This tutorial provides you with the math skills you will need for these courses.

The skills you will learn in this tutorial are to:

• Identify the components of a fraction.
  
• Compare and order fractions with like denominators.
  
• Compare and order fractions with like numerators.
  
• Write equivalent fractions
  
• Find the prime factors of a number.
  
• Write a fraction in its simplest form.
  
• Use prime factorizations to find the least common denominator (LCD)
  of a group of fractions.
  
• Compare and order fractions.
  
• Multiply two fractions.
  
• Divide two fractions.
  
• Add two fractions.
  
• Subtract two fractions.
  

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