Course Overview

Mathematical Models with Applications A is designed for high school students who have completed Algebra I. The semester-length course starts with a review of the math skills that students will need throughout the course, then moves on to build their knowledge of financial math applications with banking and credit cards, cars and housing, budgeting and bills, and investing and retirement. Students will gain a better understanding of various financial situations and use math to guide their decision-making.

Each of the five units includes nine to fourteen lessons, with one to two projects. Each lesson has a minimum of five formative assessment questions to enable students and their teacher to gauge student understanding. Summative assessments include three quizzes in each unit, a test for each unit, and a semester exam covering all five units. Each project uses concepts covered in the unit.

  • Unit 1: Construct and compare functions to solve real-world problems
  • Unit 2: Investigate the real cost of using credit to make large purchases
  • Unit 3: Analyze renting and owning vehicles and houses in real-world situations
  • Unit 4: Create a monthly budget given a salary expectation
  • Unit 5: Compose an investment portfolio 
 
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Curriculum Content and Skills Focus

Unit 1: Basic Math and Algebra Review

  • Solve problems with fractions, decimals, and percents
  • Convert between fractions, decimals, and percents
  • Solve problems using ratios, rates, unit rates, and proportions
  • Solve problems involving the four operations with rational numbers
  • Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest
  • Create and solve linear, quadratic, and exponential equations and inequalities 
  • Determine a line of best fit for a linear model
  • Solve applied problems involving exponential growth and decay

Unit 2: Banking and Credit Cards

  • Evaluate and compare the cost of online banking and checking accounts
  • Calculate overdraft fees on returned checks
  • Differentiate between different types of savings accounts
  • Calculate simple and compound interest using their respective formulas
  • Compute the interest on a loan
  • Calculate the carrying charges of installment loans
  • Find the interest rate and new account balance on a credit card 

Unit 3: Cars and Housing

  • Calculate the monthly payment on a loan in applied problems
  • Compute interest plus monthly payments on a leased car
  • Find the APR of a long-term loan
  • Calculate premiums of car, renters, and homeowner’s insurance using a table
  • Analyze the difference between buying and leasing a car
  • Compute total yearly cost of renting a residence
  • Calculate simple interest on a mortgage
  • Analyze the difference between renting and owning a residence

Unit 4: Budgeting and Bills

  • Calculate pay, using hourly rate and overtime
  • Given a salary, calculate payroll deductions
  • Compute commission on sales
  • Find premiums of life and health insurance using a table
  • Analyze insurance deductibles, coinsurance, and total out-of-pocket insurance cost
  • Calculate FICA and Medicare taxes for an employed individual or self-employed individual
  • Compute state and federal withholdings from a table
  • Find the amount of property tax paid using a tax table
  • Create a budget given a monthly salary

Unit 5: Investing and Retirement

  • Analyze the effects of financial planning on lifelong financial security
  • Compute possible retirement incomes, given a yearly salary
  • Define the important characteristics of retirement plans
  • Calculate dividends and dividends per share
  • Find cost and yields of bonds
  • Compute the value per share and shares purchased
  • Calculate annual interest of certificates of deposit
  • Compose an interest portfolio
 
© Glynlyon Inc. 2018

Additional Resources

In addition to the default course content, some projects may require paper and pencil or drawing supplies to complete the assignment. Writing assignments may require a graphic organizer to be printed out and used in the writing process. Projects (such as book reports or informational essays) may require students to acquire outside resources for research or reading.

The following lessons require specific materials that are not included in this course and must be acquired separately:

 

Unit Assignment Resource
All General Requirement
  • Access to the Internet
  • A graphing calculator or web-based graphic calculator
1 Project
  • Three 4” x 6” index cards
1 Project
  • Three 4” x 6” index cards
  • One 12” x 18” piece of construction paper
  • Colored pencils and/or markers
  • Ruler
  • Glue or tape
  • Scissors
2 Project
  • Spreadsheet software
3 Special Project
  • Word processor
3 Project
  • Spreadsheet software
5 Project
  • Spreadsheet software

 

 
© Glynlyon Inc. 2018
Charity Christian Academy