News Release
September 2006
Bethlehem, Pa., September 7, 2006—Alicia Sevilla and Kay Somers,
professors of mathematics at Moravian College, collaborated to author a new mathematics
textbook, Quantitative Reasoning: Tools for Today’s Informed Citizen.
Published by Key College Publishing, the book uses real-life examples and
data to teach introductory quantitative reasoning courses at the college level.
The text features an activity-based pedagogical approach to encourage
students to engage critically with the material and to acquire the tools necessary
to understand how math is used in the real world to, for example, understand economic
indexes or to evaluate credit card offers. Through a series of hands-on
activities and explorations, it empowers students by teaching them to apply quantitative
reasoning skills to make informed decisions in their daily lives.
The format is divided into three sections – numerical reasoning,
logical reasoning, and statistical reasoning. Each topic within a section contains
clearly stated objectives, several completed examples, and explorations and short problems
for students. The book is also written with numerous in-depth activities designed
for Microsoft Excel. Alternate versions of the activities for the TI 83/84 Plus
graphing calculators are on a CD-ROM included with the text. Data collected from
real print and electronic sources is used throughout to emphasize the connection between
course concepts and their real-life applications.
Sevilla is a graduate of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina, and
earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at Cornell University. She co-authored A Companion to Calculus,
and currently serves as coordinator for student chapters of the Mathematical Association
of America in the Eastern Pennsylvania Delaware section. Her interests are Algebraic
number theory, and Euclidean real quadratic number fields.
Somers received her B.S. degree from Ursinus College, and earned M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees from the Renssealaer Polytechnic Institute. She is one of four co-authors
of A Companion to Calculus, and lectures and writes about game theory and statistics-related
topics. Particular interests are applied mathematics, especially numerical analysis,
and operations research. She is the 1990 recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished
Teaching. In January 2005, Somers was one of five professors nationwide who received
a Certificate of Meritorious Service from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)
in recognition of service to the MAA at the national level or for service to a Section
of the Association.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college
located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as
America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the Web site at www.moravian.edu
