Each year, hundreds of thousands of prospective students in business and public administration (BPA) degree programs take required mathematics courses because they need to learn to use mathematics effectively in making decisions. However, this need is often not addressed by the traditionally required courses. The main goal of this project is to produce materials that convince students that mathematics and modern computer technology are valuable tools in solving realistic problems and to teach them to utilize these tools effectively.
With funding from the National Science Foundation (DUE 9972350) we will develop, site-test, and disseminate nationally an archive of substantial, technology-based case studies in the mathematics of decision-making. (We use the term ``case study'' loosely to mean a realistic scenario which can be used to introduce the mathematical content.) These case studies will take between a few days and a few weeks to teach, and can be used instead of a text or in addition to a text. Each case study will be developed by teams consisting of faculty from mathematics and BPA, to be chosen from around the country. As author teams are formed, subcontracts will be made to other institutions.
Prototype case studies have been developed by the co-PIs. Thompson and Lamoureux, in a partnership between the University of Arizona's Department of Mathematics and the College of Business and Public Administration, have produced case studies on whether to foreclose a commercial loan or work out an arrangement with the creditor, and on how to price a stock option (http://www.business.math.arizona.edu). Hughes Hallett, in collaboration with Eric Connally of Wellesley College and faculty at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, has produced case studies on the Austrian state pension system, population projection using U.S. census data and data from the CIA Worldbook, and water flow in the Charles River using data from the U.S. Geological Survey ( http://www.math.arizona.edu/~dhh) These projects are described in Section 3.4 and samples are included in the appendices.
In addition to the case studies themselves, an important outcome will be the establishment of contacts between mathematics and BPA faculty. These contacts are traditionally among the weakest in the university. Mathematicians sometimes believe that the BPA college requires mathematics only to reduce the number of students applying to its programs. The BPA faculty, in turn, do not always appreciate how hard it can be to teach mathematics to a group of students with weak algebra skills and who really don't want to learn it.
Yet operations research, mathematical modeling of the stock market, and economic forecasting, for example, have all played a significant role in shaping business and public administration over the last 50 years. It is time for the success of such fields to have an impact on the introductory-level courses. We believe that our collaboration on case studies provides a model for doing this.