But, it s just as important to be able to recognize trends, analyze problems and situations, and make decisions. It s unlikely that your boss will ever ask you to solve a quadratic equation, and it s unlikely that your production line will have any mathematical formulas written on it. But, your boss may give you numbers from the production line and ask you to analyze the level of production. And that s why we will be emphasizing them. One of the most efficient and powerful tools for analyzing data quickly is a graph.
Graphs are marvelous, very concise ways of describing relationships and correspondences.
A graph can tell you what s happening at a particular time, and let you predict what will happen next. The information can be seen quickly, with no messy calculations. Because of this, there is very little explanation with the problems. In order for you to be successful in this course, your mathematical background should include one quarter of college algebra or two years of high school algebra, with a grade of C or better. If it s been a very long time since you last took any math, or if you feel uncomfortable with what you remember, you may wish to take Math 101 before this course.