Sacramento Valley Community College Mathematics Program

Program

This conference is sponsored by

• Addison-Wesley and Benjamin Cummings
• Houghton Mifflin Company
• Prentice Hall Publishing
• Thomson
• Houghton Mifflin Company
• Prentice Hall Publishing
• Thomson

Abstracts of talks

Alisher Abdullayev (ARC)
Solving Quadratic Equations with Parameters

The title says it all! Come and see some challenging problems.

Tony Barcellos (ARC)
Understanding Student Mistakes

All math teachers know that our students have creative ideas about mathematics that go contrary to
reality. Many of their misconceptions are methodical and are based on specific notions that math
teachers need to understand if we are to deal with them successfully.

Walt Deckert (ARC)
Mathematics: CI (Criminal Intent)

Recent popularity of fictional crime scene investigations has captured the attention of the American
viewing audience. Is it possible to match that viewing enthusiasm with the underlying mathematics
of real criminal and search/rescue investigations? In this session we will discuss the mathematical
underpinnings of blood splatter, body and evidence recovery, etc. The goal will be to provide an
example of the mathematics of crime scene investigations from the developmental to more advance
level.

Ken Johnson (Sierra)
Cure Students’ Fear of Math: Teach a Problem Solving Course

Turn students’ math apprehension into confidence and success with an elective problem solving
course that will quickly become your favorite class to teach. Come hear about this exciting course
and its benefits, work in groups to solve some problems, and see samples of student work.

Thomas Mattman (CSU Chico)
The Ministry of Silly Walks

The pattern your footprints leave when you walk along the beach is an example of a Frieze pattern.
Using this idea, Conway has given the Frieze patterns names such as “jump” and “spinning
hop.” If you've every tried performing "spinning sidle" for friends or students, you'll know that
some of these walks are pretty silly. But are they REALLY silly? For this we turn to the masters of
silliness, the British comedy troupe, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. We will analyze the “Ministry
of Silly Walks” skit to understand which of Conway's walks are truly silly.

Joel Siegel (Sierra)
Numbers that are More Than Perfect (or What’s So Perfect about 120?)

Perfect numbers ( like 6) are equal to the one nts/partial-sum-third-grademath.html">sum of their proper divisors. However, there are other
numbers which are multiply perfect ; i.e., they are equal to a multiple of their divisors. For example,
the sum of the proper divisors of 120 is 240. In this talk, we take a look at this phenomenon and
discuss some of the characteristics of these numbers. No new numbers are presented; rather we
take a fun stroll down memory lane from a fresh point of view.

Open discussion

SVCCM Roundtable: Problems, Issues, and Resources in Our Classrooms, Colleges,
and State. Moderated by Mark Harbison (SCC).
A chance for us to share our experiences in our classrooms, our colleges, and the state. What have
we encountered? What have we learnt? What have we done?

Publisher-sponsored sessions

MyMathLab (Addison Wesley)
Jason Crossett will demonstrate MyMathLab.

Eduspace - Enhancing Your Math Class with Online Homework (Houghton Mifflin)
Mike Hamm, a community college math instructor for 25 years, will discuss how Eduspace gives
you electronic tools to enhance your classroom ability to as sign practice exercises, graded
exercises/tests and provide real-time tutoring.

MyMathLab (Prentice Hall)
Mark Webster (SCC) will present the MyMathLab software and explain how he is using it in his
math courses. The focus will be on student success and how Mark has incorporated the techno logy
into his teaching.

iLrn (Thomson)
The iLrn platform represents a single fully integrated student learning system which ties together 5
fundamental learning activities: (1) diagnostic, (2) personalized learning plans and tutorials, (3)
homework, (4) quizzing and (5) assessment. For instructors, iLrn provides the most powerful
course management tools and gradebook available in the industry along with comprehensive
training, support, and service program.