Department of Mathematics and Statistics

First-Year Mathematics and Statistics Courses

photo of students walking on campus

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers first-year mathematics and statistics courses that meet the general education and major requirements for all undergraduate disciplines at Wright State. Below you will find some general information regarding these courses. Consult your academic advisor on the specific math and statistics requirements of your degree program.

Important notes:

  • Before registering for their first math or statistics course at Wright State, you will need to verify your placement level
  • All prerequisites must be met before registering for any math or statistics class. Questions? Email mathstatprerequisites@wright.edu.
  • Developmental math (DEV) classes are offered through Foundation Studies. Refer any questions about DEV 0970 Intermediate Algebra to your academic advisor. The business statistics courses MS 2040 and 2050 are taught by the Raj Soin College of Business. The engineering statistics course ISE 2211 and discrete structures and algorithms course CS 2200 are taught by the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
  • A list of campus resources for assistance with math and statistics courses can be found on the Math Help page.
     

Common First-Year MTH/STT Courses

MTH 1270 Introduction to Functions and Modeling

This course’s primary goal is to prepare students to analyze functions and their properties, as part of the Wright State Mathematics Core objectives. Student will to be able to work with the common mathematical function forms.

  • TextbookFunctions and Change: A Modeling Approach to College Algebra (sixth edition), by Crauder, Evans, and Noell
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)


MTH 1280 College Algebra

This course's primary goal is to prepare students for MTH 1350 Analytic Geometry & Trigonometry or MTH 2240 Applied Calculus or MTH 2280 Business Calculus.

  • Textbook: MTH 1280/1350 College Algebra & Trigonometry with Enhanced Web Assign Access, 4th edition, by Stewart, Cengage (Custom), ISBN: 9781305719781
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)
     

MTH 1350 Analytic Geometry and Trigonometry

This course's primary goal is to prepare students for the regular calculus sequence MTH 2300/2310/2320.

  • Textbook: MTH 1280/1350 College Algebra & Trigonometry with Enhanced Web Assign Access, 4th edition, by Stewart, Cengage (Custom), ISBN: 9781305719781
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)

MTH 1450 Mathematics and the Modern World

This is a general education course required by many non-technical degree programs, mostly those in the liberal or performing arts.

  • Course Description: An application of mathematics to modeling real-world problems from the behavioral, computational, managerial, and social sciences. Includes such topics as graph theory, linear programming, probability, descriptive and inferential statistics, voting systems, game theory, population growth, computer algorithms, and codes and data storage.
  • Textbook: MTH 1450 Student Notebook" (2nd ed.). Instructors announce an electronic copy free, or the bookstore offers a printed version for optional purchase.
  • Syllabus: from the instructor
     

MTH 2240 Applied Calculus

This course is for students in science programs who are not required to take the regular Calculus courses. Completion of this course does not automatically place students in a regular calculus course. It earns no credit for students already with credit for any regular calculus courses.

  • Course Description: Functions, rates of change, limits, derivatives of algebraic functions, applications including maxima and minima, exponential and logarithmic functions, and indefinite and definite integrals with applications.
  • Textbook: Calculus for the Life Sciences, 2nd Edition, Greenwell, Ritchey, Lial (Pearson)
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)
     

MTH 2280 Business Calculus

This course is for students in economics/business programs who are not required to take the regular Calculus courses. Completion of this course does not automatically place students in a regular calculus course. It earns no credit for students already with credit for any regular calculus courses.

  • Course Description: Functions, rates of change, limits, derivatives of algebraic functions, applications including maxima and minima, exponential and logarithmic functions, and indefinite and definite integrals with applications.
  • Textbook: Applied Calculus, 7th edition, by Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, Lock, Flath, et al., Wiley and Sons
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)
     

MTH 2300 Calculus I

This is the first course of the calculus sequence for people in science, math, statistics, and engineering programs.

  • Course Description: Examines limits, the derivative, differentiation, applications of the derivative, antiderivatives, Riemann sums, the definite integral, and the fundamental theorem of calculus.
  • Textbooks: Calculus Volume 1, by OpenStax, Print edition: OpenStax ISBN 9781938168024 or XanEdu ISBN 9781506698069, Digital edition ISBN 9781947172135
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)
     

MTH 2415 Elementary Mathematics Concepts for Teachers 1

This is the first course of the 2-course sequence on math fundamentals required for students in elementary and middle childhood pre-service teachers programs in the College of Education and Human Resources. The other course is MTH 2435.

  • Course Description: Overview of mathematical topics from a perspective appropriate for early and middle childhood educators. Number systems such as whole numbers, fractions, rationals, and decimals. Place value and bases. The meaning of and algorithms for the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Introduction to geometry.
  • Textbooks: Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers with Activities, 5th edition, by Beckmann. Pearson Higher Education, ISBN 9780134423319.
  • Syllabus: from the instructor


MTH 2435 Elementary Mathematics Concepts for Teachers 2

This is the second course of the 2-course sequence on math fundamentals required for students in elementary and middle childhood pre-service teachers programs in the College of Education and Human Resources. The other course is MTH 2415.

  • Course Description: Overview of mathematical topics from a perspective appropriate for early and middle childhood educators. Topics include ratio and proportion, simple probability, data analysis, area, volume, and basic transformational geometry.
  • Textbooks: Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers with Activities, 6th edition, by Beckmann. Pearson Higher Education
  • Syllabus: from the instructor


MTH 2570 Discrete Math for Computing

This is a course required by the CS/CEG degree programs.

  • Course Description: Discrete mathematics useful in computing. Emphasis on mathematical induction, recurrence relations, asymptotic behavior of functions, and algorithm analysis.
  • Textbook: Mathematical Structures for Computer Science – a Modern Approach to Discrete Mathematics, 7th edition, by J. Gersting, MPS, ISBN: 9781429215107
  • Syllabus: from the instructor
     

STT 1600 Statistical Concepts

This is a survey course in the basic statistical concepts and methods, mostly required by programs in nursing and psychology. It cannot be used as a prerequisite for other MTH/STT courses.

  • Course Description: An introduction to the fundamental ideas of statistics. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, confidence intervals, and testing hypotheses, as well as the basics of Chi-square tests, regression and correlation, and analysis of variance.
  • Textbook:  Elementary Statistics Using Excel, 6th edition, by Triola, Pearson Higher Education
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)
     

STT 2640 Elementary Statistics

This course covers the elementary probability and statistical concepts and methods that are required by many programs in the sciences.

  • Course Description: Numerical and graphical methods for finding and summarizing important features of data. Principles of designing experiments for collecting data. Introduction to probability. Use of statistical computing package to apply methods and illustrate concepts. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing introduction. Applications to means, proportions, two-sample comparisons, contingency tables, linear regression, and analysis of variance. Use of statistical computing package to apply methods to data sets.
  • Textbooks: Statistics, 13th edition, by McClave, Sincich and Mendenhall, Pearson Higher Education, ISBN 9780134080611
  • Syllabus: Departmental (PDF)