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In Financial Algebra; students delve into six complex projects that are designed to allow them to see and experience real-world scenarios and problems concerning financial resources and management. All of the math in this course is directly applicable to the projects and problems that students will encounter in their current lives and in the future as independent adults. Students will use mathematical modeling with emphasis on graphing functions; statistics; and analysis of data. In each unit project; students are required to make and justify financial decisions based on their mathematical models. Students will review and master creating; simplifying; solving; justifying; and graphing linear; quadratic; and exponential expressions; equations; and functions. Students will use graphing calculators and apps to perform analyses and learn about relations between functions and their graphs. All of the content of this course will be directly applicable to students' lives as they begin to plan for their financial futures.

Course content:Unit 1: Introduction to Your Money and Where it GoesThrough business modeling; students will learn about and apply the law of supply and demand; graph expenses and revenue; find profit equations; perform breakeven analysis; calculate fixed and variable expenses; and interpret scatterplots. Student will explore exponential regression; greatest integer function; literal equations; probability; rational and exponential equations; scale drawings; linear regression; systems of linear equations and inequalities in two variables; causal relationships; domain and range; vertex and axis of symmetry; quadratic formula; correlations; and the transitive property of dependence. Skills and financial mathematics presented; scaffolded; and practiced in this first unit will be reinforced and recycled with more advanced components introduced as the units progress.

Unit Assignment(s):Students will compare and contrast cost plans (credit card; cellular phone; and cost of transportation) and make decisions based on analysis of the data. Students will research and present a real life product safety recall and write about the overall gain and loss of the company. Students will use linear regression to determine the most reasonable insurance costs that a consumer should be paying.

Students will research; discuss; and present the components of a personal spending plan; including income; planned saving and expenses; and comparison shopping; compare the advantages and disadvantages of saving for financial goals; illustrate how inflation can affect spending power over time; explain why saving is a prerequisite to investing; verify sales receipts for accuracy; including calculations; sales tax and any fees; evaluate the relationship between spending practices and achieving financial goals.

Unit 2: Working for a Living - and Making Money Work for YouStudents will learn about the different types of earned income: interest; dividends; capital gains; commissions; salary; and pro-rated. Students will compare linear and exponential models by exploring and understanding simple and compound interest. They will analyze scatter plots and create a line of best fit; use a system of equations to compare various salaries and purchase options and use technology to model mathematics and make informed decisions.

Unit Assignment(s):Students will work in a group to investigate various forms of income (such as: earned; net; dividends income) and create a financial plan and career goals that includes costs; earnings projections; time requirements; training requirements; education; etc.; and present their findings to whole class via Google Slide presentation.

Unit 3: Spending; Saving; and TaxesIn this unit; students explore different ways of spending or saving on purchases; they develop plans and systems for keeping financial records by creating spreadsheets and using linear equations or inequalities. Students explore percent of increase and decrease and depreciation of value through exponential growth and decay applications. Students understand that taxes affect disposable income and the total cost of many purchases and solve linear equations or inequalities; literal expressions; ratios and proportions; percent increase and decrease; using spreadsheets and formulas; read; interpret; create bar graphs and line graphs; exponential growth and decay; measures of central tendencies; greatest integer functions and their graphs resulting from emergency savings and explore the concepts of positive net worth as well as taxable assets.

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Unit Assignment(s):Collaborating in small groups students research and investigate true costs of various expenses (phone; rent; car; etc.) and have groups present findings to whole class. Students then create a monthly personal budget that includes: phone; car; food; entertainment and use a spreadsheet to display the budget. The presentation will be evaluated against a rubric and requires an explanation of how and why their budget differs from classmates. Students will also critique and evaluate other students? personal budgets. A guest speaker will be invited to address planning and money management.

Unit 4: Credit; Debt; and Big Money QuestionsIn this unit; students will develop overall strategies to control and manage credit and debt - including such topics as analyzing the costs and benefits of various types of credit; calculating the total cost of repaying a loan under various rates of interest and over different periods of time; explaining how interest rates; compounding frequency and loan length affect the cost of using credit; deciding the most cost-effective options for paying for a vehicle; comparing the total cost of reducing a credit card balance to zero with minimum versus above-minimum payments; and; explaining how credit card grace periods; methods of interest calculation; and fees affect borrowing costs. Explicit algebraic skills required to support the objectives of this course include constructing and interpreting linear equations and inequalities; exponential growth and decay; linear and quadratic regression; measures of central tendency; and analyzing and interpreting spreadsheets and formulas.

Unit Assignment(s):Students are given a simulation scenario in which a family must make a decision about the affordability of a loan based on the principals; loan-length; the APR; and maximum affordable monthly payment the family is able to make towards loan debt reduction. Using technology; students will research the profiles of college students with regards to credit and debt and discuss the impact on the future.

Unit 5: Safe Risk: All About InsuranceStudents will use data to assess the cost-benefit of different risk scenarios and how to assess risk in order to avoid; control; and reduce harms from threats as well as learn how to deal with and accept threats as a part of business and financial decision making and financial loss reality for all consumers. Students will use scatter-plots and statistical analysis to determine a reasonable level of tolerance for different data sources and model algebraically and graphically different scenarios. Students will explain where the graphs of the functions intersect and explain how that intersection can be used to make financial decisions and will relate two functions in order to determine the most appropriate levels of risk and insurance and graph piece-wise and step functions.

Unit Assignment(s):Given various scenarios of risk and insurance; student groups will analyze and discuss the cost-benefit of having insurance to cover large and small expenses. Working in groups; students will model scenarios and explain the benefit or lack of a benefit to owning insurance.

Unit 6: Your Money; Your FutureStudents will learn how to assess spending priorities reflecting goals and values; be introduced to the concept of net-worth; and analyze how spending and saving behavior can affect long term net worth. In order to analyze; compare; and calculate savings and investments students will use equations and inequalities to solve problems. To evaluate the effectiveness of a particular savings or investing strategy; students will create equations and functions that describe financial relationships in order to summarize; represent; interpret; and analyze data. Students will make decisions through comparing and contrasting linear; quadratic; and exponential models. Students will need to calculate expected value; extrapolate data; and make long term predictions based on linear; power and exponential models.

Unit Assignment(s):Students are first introduced to the meaning of simple interest. Then that idea of simple interest is extended to compounding numerically via mathematical iteration. Students will compute interest for each interest period over an annual compounded account for a given balance and interest rate. They will derive the general algebraic formulas for these two types of compounding. Given different scenarios involving simple and compound interests; students would write a comparison between the best investment option and present to the class.

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• MTHA
• 4 years of Math

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Online / Virtual