saturday math session

september
september 22
22 Do you want to live or wanna exist?
The game changes everyday so obsolete is the fist and marches
Facilitated by: mista. ryan Speeches only reaches those who already know about it
mistaryan@comcast.net This is how we go about it
Andre 3000,Outkast , “Humble Mumuble” (2000)

DO N O W

An experiment is a situation involving chance or probability that leads to results called outcomes.
An outcome is the result of a single trial of an experiment.
One event of this experiment is landing on blue.
Probability is the measure of how likely an event is.

In order to measure probabilities, use the following formula for finding the probability of an event.
Probability Of An Event
P(A) = The Number Of Ways Event A Can Occur /The Total Number Of Possible Outcomes

The probability of event A is the number of ways event A can occur divided by the total # of possible outcomes.

Experiment 1: A spinner has 4 equal sectors colored yellow, blue, green and red. After spinning the spin-
ner, what is the probability of landing on each color? spinner
Outcomes: The possible outcomes of this experiment are yellow, blue, green, and red.
Probabilities: P(yellow) = number of ways to land on yellow = 1
total number of colors 4
P(blue) = number of ways to land on blue = 1
total number of colors 4
P(green) = number of ways to land on green = 1
total number of colors 4
P(red) = number of ways to land on red = 1
total number of colors 4

NAME TEAM
Master’s Degrees Abound as Universities and Students See a Windfall
[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/education/12masters.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]
By HANNAH FAIRFIELD, New York Times, 9/12/2007

The number of students in the University of Chicago program that bestows a Master
of Arts degree in social sciences has quadrupled since 1989, jumping to 160 from 40,
and despite a tuition price tag of $37,000, every year more students clamor for admit-
tance.
“It’s an expensive degree, but students have calculated how fast they get their
investment back,” said John J. MacAloon, an associate dean at the University of Chi-
cago and director of the program. “And it is beneficial for the university because there
is a lot of tuition income to be had.”
More students than ever have started master’s programs this fall, and universi-
ties are seeing those programs as potentially lucrative sources of revenue. The number
of students earning these degrees around the country has nearly doubled since 1980.
Since 1970, the growth is 150 percent, more than twice as fast as bachelor and doc-
torate programs.
“Master’s programs are the most obvious targets of opportunity,” said George
L. Mehaffy, a vice president of the American Association of State Colleges and Univer-
sities. “The degrees are in high demand, and this is an optimal time to enter or expand
the market.”
For students, the degrees are often expensive; at private universities, many
students take out $50,000 in loans for every year of school. And scholarships and fel-
lowships are rare, unlike doctoral programs, which are usually fully financed by univer-
sities.
Still, many say the price is worth it. In his two-year master’s program in sci-
ence technology and environmental policy from the University of Minnesota Craig
Nelson had $35,000 in loans. Now, he works in regulatory affairs at the 3M Company.
“Without the degree, I wouldn’t have the job,” he said. “So even though I’ll be
paying the loan for 10 years, it was a good move for me.”
Thomas Ehrlich, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advance-
ment of Teaching and a former president of Indiana University, said that although many
master’s programs could be good revenue streams for universities, “We’re not in the
business of making money.” He added, “We’re in the business of educating students.”
Many university provosts say a graduate education can be more expensive to
provide than an undergraduate degree, merely because class sizes are usually smaller
in graduate courses. But for universities that already have established doctoral pro-
grams, adding paying master’s students to the mix means they get a bump in tuition
dollars without a heavy outlay of resources.
“Sometimes there is unused capacity in graduate classrooms,” Mr. Mehaffy
said. “If there are 10 people in a graduate course one year and 15 the next, there is a
50 percent growth but no real drain on the institution.”
“There is a huge demand for credentials in high-level jobs now,” said Mr. Phil-
lips, who is a lawyer for the Chicago city government. “Each of my degrees helped me
to get a leg up in the job market, and earn higher salaries than I would have otherwise.
They were great investments.”

Discussion Questions

The article discusses the cost of graduate school. What do those who hold master’s
degree’s (one of the degrees a graduate school offers) say about the cost? Is it worth
it?

What type of jobs can you think of which might require a graduate degree?

Gear Up Program /Fall 2007 University of Maryland College

View Worksheet 09/20/2007 07:17

Lesson 1 - Week 2 April 7 , 2007

 You Won the Prize!!

Your favorite cereal Wheat Jacks is giving away a prize with each box of cereal.
There are 6 different prizes and you want to win them all. How many boxes of
cereal do you have to eat to win them all?

Minimum # of boxes = ______ Maximum # of boxes = ______

It is easy to simulate this experiment using 1 die or a random number generator.

Each roll signifies one cereal box and you must get each prize, numbered 1
through 6. Do this experiment 10 times; keep track of how many rolls it takes
you to get all of the prizes 1 through 6.

Simulation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Tally

Prizes 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
Received 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34
56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56
Total # of
Cereal
Boxes

Compile your experiments into a histogram. Place the number of boxes of cereal
it took you on the x-axis and the frequency on the y-axis. (Use a separate sheet
of graph paper.)

On average, how many boxes of cereal must you eat to get all six prizes?
_______

How do your results compare with the rest of the class?

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a national initiative to sup-
port and encourage young people to have high expectations, study hard, and follow an academic program that
will provide a strong foundation for further education at institutions of higher learning.

For the 2007-2008 academic year, this GEAR UP program partnered with the University of Maryland, College
Park, which offers Saturday academies and a summer program to (1) give students supplemental instructional in
algebra and geometry; (2) expose students to activities that will increase their awareness of college and career
opportunities and requirements; and (3) develop supplemental activities for the existing GEAR UP after-school
program. 

Gear Up Program /Fall 2007 University of Maryland College