Community Education Center Association

Math Connections: Algebra Comes Home to Roost at CEC

Nov 30, 2002

By Mark Hayden

I was first assigned to teach mathematics 34 years ago at the PCC Community Adult Training Center on north Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Many of my students in those days were veterans from Viet Nam eager to return to the workforce and homemakers who were entering the job market for the first time. I noticed from the start that while these students had little difficulty in brushing up on the basic math they had forgotten, algebra was a new and difficult subject to be avoided at all costs! Since algebra was not a steadfast requirement in the curriculum for graduation, students begged counselors to help them avoid this subject. Consequently, the enrollment in algebra was always minimal, with only handfuls of students willing to brave the course. Students were not interested in learning what they often referred to as a "foreign language." In the years that followed I even began to doubt my ability to teach algebra. Then in the late 80?’s I was offered an adjunct position teaching a college algebra course. The classes were heavily enrolled with students who had professions in mind that they knew would require algebra, such as nursing and other medical related fields, electronics, drafting, business, broadcasting, engineering, etc.

Well, its now 2002 and I still have large college level classes of students learning algebra, but painfully small noncredit algebra classes at CEC. This is about to change. The new state required High School Exit Exam to go into affect in 2003-2004 will contain just two parts; math and English. ALL students must pass a course in Algebra 1 prior to taking the exam, because algebra skills involving critical thinking will be tested.

What is Algebra?

Algebra is a branch of mathematics that uses mathematical statements to describe the relationships between things that change over time. These changes are called "variables." For example the balance due on your credit card is calculated each month on the unpaid amount you owe. Now that?’s a real variable, right? When we use a mathematical statement to describe these situations we often use letters and symbols to represent the quantity that changes, since it is not a fixed amount. In short, algebra is simply a tool to help us do mathematics, just as a tire iron is used to remove a hubcap. We learn the rules of algebra in order to play the game which is always the same: simplify the variable to its most basic form possible.

History of Algebra

Every culture on earth has developed some mathematics. Mathematics has spread from one culture to another. Algebra had its roots in ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and India and was brought to Europe via Italy by the Arabs. In the first half of the 16th century two prominent English mathematicians, Cuthbert Tonstall (1474-1559) and Robert Record ( 1510?-1558) are thought to have been among the first to use algebra formally. Today algebra is used internationally.

Why Algebra?

Critical thinking skills are much more needed today by a workforce that has left the industrial age and has moved into the technological age. The synthesis of ideas using basics of algebra are essential to the high-tech society in which we now live. Today?’s need for an algebra-trained society has its roots in the development of computers by mathematicians and logicians who continue to push the computer science envelope to new levels by developing new algebraic theories. For example, the next generation of software requires the latest methods from what is called "category theory", a theory of mathematical structures which has given new perspectives on the foundations of mathematics and on logic. Simply put, most workers today will use increasingly complex computers in some manner critical to their ability to perform their job, from Jiffy Lube technicians to Jet Propulsion Lab scientists.

The physical sciences (chemistry, physics, oceanography, astronomy) require the ongoing development of mathematical theories using algebra. Statistics used in the medical and business fields are reliant upon algebra. Population dynamics are being understood through the use of algebra-driven mathematics. The list goes on.

Where Do Students at CEC Stand?

2003 will become the pivotal year to develop algebra curriculum to meet the demands of an increasing proficiency in mathematics. I hope to be part of the development of new course delivery methods that will insure the opportunity for student success. Overcoming math anxiety and old phobias will become as challenging as learning the concepts of algebra itself.