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by Donald J. Albers ix INTRODUCTION In July of 1984 the first national conference on mathematics education in two-year colleges was held at Menlo College. The conference was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Two-year colleges account for more than one-third of all undergraduate enrollments in mathematics, and more than one-half of all college freshmen are enrolled in two-year colleges. These two facts alone suggest the importance of mathematics education in two-year colleges, particularly to secondary schools, four-year colleges, and universities. For a variety of reasons, four-year colleges and universities are relatively unaware of two-year colleges. Arthur Cohen, who was a participant at the "New Directions" conference warns: "Four-year colleges and universities ignore two-year colleges at their own peril." Ross Taylor, another conference participant, encouraged two-year college faculty to be ever mindful of their main source of students--secondary schools- and to work hard to strengthen their ties with them. There are many other reasons why it was important to examine two-year college mathematics from a national perspective: 1. Over the last quarter century, rio other sector of higher education has grown so rapidly as have two-year colleges. Their enrollments tripled in the 60's, doubled in the 70's, and continue to increase rapidly in the 80's. x 2. Twenty-five years ago, two-year colleges accounted for only one-seventh of all undergraduate mathematics enrollments; today the fraction is more than one-third.
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New Directions in Two-Year College Mathematics New Directions in Two-Year College Mathematics Proceedings of the Sloan Foundation Conference on Two-Year College Mathematics, held July 11-14 at Menlo College in Atherton, California Edited by Donald J. Albers Stephen B. Rodi Ann E. Watkins With 12 Illustrations Springer-Verlag Donald J. Albers Stephen B. Rodi Department of Mathematics Menlo College Atherton. California 94025 U.S.A. Department of Mathematics Austin Community College Austin, Texas 78768 U.S.A Ann E. Watkins Department of Mathematics Los Angeles Pierce College Woodland Hills, California 91371 U.S.A. AMS Classifications: OOAlO, 00A99 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sloan Foundation Conference on Two-year College Mathematics (1984 : Menlo College) New directions in two-year college mathematics. "Workshop held at Menlo College, Atherton, CA from July 11-14, 1984, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation"-T.p. verso. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Mathematics-Study and teaching (Higher)United States-Congresses. 2. Community collegesUnited States-Curricula-Congresses. I. Albers. Donald J. II. Rodi, S. B. (Stephen B.) III. Watkins, A. E. (Ann E.) IV. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. V. Title. QA13.S56 1984 510'.7'1173 85-8142 Conference held at Menlo College, Atherton, CA from July 11-14, 1984. Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. © 1985 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1985 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York lOOlO, U.S.A. Permission to photocopy for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by Springer-Verlag, New York Inc. for libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), provided that the base fee of $0.00 per copy, plus $.20 per page is paid directly to CCC, 21 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970, U.S.A. Special requests should be addressed to Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY lOOlO, U.S.A. 0-387-96145-3/85 $0.00 + .20 9 8 7 654 3 2 1 ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-9571-6 DOl: