UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

The dynamic and continually changing environment can be understood through examining measurements that quantify change. This course introduces methods of quantitative reasoning used to understand our environment. Through a wide variety of examples, the course builds connections between quantitative concepts and environmental applications. Physical and social scientists measure properties of the environment to gain an understanding of the past and present, then they use these measurements to compare changes in the environment both spatially and throughout time. This course will examine topics such as population dynamics, changes in weather and climate, toxicity in water and air and the occurrence and intensity of natural disasters. Using real world data, the course will develop quantitative and technical skills for critical analysis of environmental challenges. Some of the quantitative topics presented include estimation, number sense, graphing data, linear and exponential growth and descriptive statistics, including central value analysis. This course meets the core theme of better understanding environmental science by addressing quantitative studies applied to climate change, sustainability, environmental justice and pollution. ENVSCI 116L and ENVSTY 116L are the same course

Prerequisites

Placement into MATH 114QR or higher MATH course