Mathematics and the Currents of Change (2nd Edition)

Designed primarily with liberal arts majors in mind, Mathematics and the Currents of Change presents, in clearly written prose and examples, contemporary real-world applications of mathematics, using those applications to provide the student with a fresh look at the subject. Using examples as starting points, the text covers a variety of modern applications, including DNA sequencing, scheduling, sharing, voting methods, apportionment, growth and decline of populations and of savings and debt, data transmission and storage, encryption, visual art, and the global positioning system.

Reviewers and faculty who have used Mathematics and the Currents of Change praise its clarity of explanation and the clearly worked-out examples that foreshadow the basic exercises at the end of each section. The authors catch students’ attention by presenting corners of everyday life and then, step by step, introducing mathematics to analyze these situations. In this way, Mathematics and the Currents of Change gives students a fresh start in mathematics, rather than trying to build on recalled, but not necessarily mastered or enjoyed, topics from high-school math classes.