Math In A Sustainable Society
Edition 2.3
by Pete Kaslik
Pierce College Math Department
The book "Math in a Sustainable Society" is designed for use in college level math classes such as the Math 107, Math in Society classes taught in Washington State community colleges. This book is different from typical textbooks in many ways.
There is a non-mathematical theme that extends throughout the book.
There is a thought experiment that is used throughout most of the book.
Many of the sample problems have multiple parts that require a variety of skills to solve and may require critical thinking to make the solution meaningful.
This text includes non-trivial real world issues such as peak oil, food production, energy and sustainability. I do not think the teacher must be an expert in these topics in order to use the book. However, I think the teacher must be open to learning about the issues since they are issues that can be understood quantitatively.
It has built-in activities that can be done in class.
It has 2 projects that can help students understand the importance of math.
This book does not contain a large collection of topics from which the teacher can pick and choose as is typical in other texts used for this course. It contains only 5 chapters of content (and two chapters with projects). If a quarter goes well, I can make it through the entire book. If it doesn't, chapter 5 may be missed.
Some of the math in this book applies to Washington State because that is where I teach. Instead of trying to make every part of the country (or world) happy by including one mention of them, I chose to write it for the students I teach and allow teachers from other parts of the country or world to customize it for their students.
This book is copyrighted with a Creative Commons Attribution: Noncommercial 3.0 License and is made available as an open-source text under the following conditions.
You may download and use some or all of the book without charge.
You may make changes (remix).
You must keep me listed as the author but if you make changes, you should add your name as well.
The cover photo and picture of the home are under separate copyright and used in this book with permission. If you wish to use those photographs separately, you need to contact the copyright holder.
Since this book is being offered freely, you may not sell it or any remix, for any cost that exceeds printing costs or bookstore costs. The goal of open source books is to make education more affordable for the students of the world.
An instructor copy with all the answers and some alternate examples for teaching purposes is available upon request from faculty members only. Requests should be made from the schools email system.
I welcome discussions with professors who are considering trying this book or those who have tried it. Since this book does not benefit from a professional editor, I would also appreciate learning about errors that may exist. I can be contacted at pkaslik@pierce.ctc.edu.
The chapters in this book are shown below. Chapters with half numbers are primarily projects. The project in Chapter 0.5 is assigned the first or second day of the quarter.
Chapter 0.5 Quantitative Assessment of the World Activity
Chapter 1 Financial Survival
Chapter 1.5 Sustainability
Chapter 2 Population Growth
Chapter 3 The Algebra of Sustainability
Chapter 4 Statistics
Chapter 5 System Dynamics Modeling
You can download a copy by clicking on the link Math in a Sustainable Society 2.3.
Thank you for your interest in this book. I hope you and your students enjoy using it.