Mondays and Wednesdays from 11am - 12:15pm in L312 from 8/17/26 - 12/10/26
General Education Outcomes are the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors that students are expected to develop as a result of their overall experiences with any aspect of the college, including courses, programs, and student services, both inside and outside of the classroom. The General Education Outcomes specifically learned in this course are:
- Critical Thinking
Faculty Contact Information
In-Person in R303: MW 10am - 10:45am, TTH 12:00pm - 1:45pm
Always available by email (kburgess@kcc.edu) or Canvas message. Expect a reply within 24 hours or sooner.
Course Information
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Use computational and critical thinking skills to solve word problems related to common business and personal situations.
- Apply basic math skills (such as percentages, decimals, and fractions) as required in all applications.
- Calculate discounts, markups, and markdowns.
- Calculate payroll, simple interest, discount note compound interest, and annuities.
- Calculate mean, median, mode, and frequency distribution.
- Know how to solve for the unknown.
- Whole Numbers
- Reading, writing, and rounding whole numbers
- Operations with whole numbers
- Fractions
- Convert between improper fractions and mixed numbers
- Reduce fractions
- Operations with fractions and mixed numbers
- Decimals
- Rounding
- Fraction and decimal conversions
- Operations with decimals
- Banking
- Bank reconciliation
- Checking account transactions
- Reconciling statement with register
- Solving for the Unknown
- Solving equations with multiple unknowns
- Solving equations with parentheses
- Using equations to solve word problems
- Percents and their Application
- Conversions of decimals, percents, and fractions
- Solving percentage problems
- Percent increase and decrease
- Discounts: Trade and Cash
- Trade discounts, single and chain
- Cash discounts, credit terms and partial payments
- Markups and Markdowns
- Markups based on cost and selling price
- Markdowns and perishables
- Breakeven analysis
- Payroll
- Gross pay
- Payroll deductions
- Payroll taxes
- Simple Interest
- Calculate simple interest and maturity value
- Finding unknown in simple interest formula
- Making partial note payments before due date
- Compound Interest and Present Value
- Compare simple interest and compound interest
- Calculate compound amount and interest manually and with table
- Compare present value with compound interest
- Compute present value with table
- Installment Buying
- Calculate amount financed, finance charge, and deferred payment
- Calculate monthly payment by formula and by table
- Calculate finance charges on revolving credit card accounts
- Inventory and Overhead
- Calculate cost of ending inventory and cost of goods sold for various inventory methods
- Calculate cost ratio and ending inventory at cost using the retail method
- Calculate estimated inventory using gross profit method
- Calculate inventory turnover
- Allocate overhead according to floor space and sales
- Business Statistics
- Mean, median, and mode
- Frequency distributions and graphs
- Measures of dispersion
Practical Business Math Procedures 14th Edition by Slater and Wittry. McGraw-Hill. Connect access code required (included in course fees).
A basic calculator
This course will be evaluated as follows:
MyConnect Homework: 30%
In Class Activities and Attendance: 20%
Exams: 30%
Final Exam: 20%
Grading Scale by Percentage:
90 – 100 A
80 – 89 B
70 – 79 C
60 – 69 D
Below 60 F
MyConnect Homework:
Homework is an essential part of any math class. The homework for this class will be given via MyConnect and will be due weekly. You may attempt each homework problem an unlimited amount of times with only the highest scores counting towards your grade (additional practice is also available). When you registered for this course, you were enrolled in the MyConnect course and access was included with your course fees.
In-Class Activities and Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. To be successful in this course, a student must attend every scheduled class. You are responsible for work missed due to absence. You must contact your instructor before class has started to be marked as excused. If you come in after class has started, you may be marked absent. Leaving early from class will also be noted.
Attendance will count as a small portion of your grade combined with in-class activities. Note: Math can be taught in the classroom, but can only be learned through practice, critical thinking, and more practice. Please ask questions to help further your understanding, either in class or during office hours.
There will also be small assignments on Canvas every other week or so to check in on your progress in the course.
Exams:
Chapter Tests will be completed in class on paper. A non-cell phone calculator must be used on quiz/exam days. It is expected that all work will be shown to support answers.
Exams will be given during class time sporadically throughout the semester. Exams can be made up at the discretion of the instructor. You must email your instructor BEFORE the class of the exam to be allowed to make up a exam.
Exams will not be returned to the class until all makeup exams are finished and graded.
Final Exam:
The final exam will be given during week 17 of the semester so Wednesday, December 9th at 10:00am - 11:50am. The final exam will be done on paper. It will be cumulative. There will be a final exam review guide for the final exam. You will be allowed a cheat sheet, both sides of a normal 8.5” by 11” piece of paper, where you can write any notes that you would like to use during the exam. A formula sheet will be provided during the exam as well which you will be able to see the week before the exam.
Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dean, Jennifer Huggins; 815-802-8484; R310; jhuggins@kcc.edu; Division Office- W102; 815-802-8700
Calculator Usage
You will want some type of calculator, but it doesn't have to be a graphing calculator. Graphing calculators may be used throughout this course. The TI-84 is the preferred graphing calculator. Remember, you can always borrow one from the library for free for the whole semester!
Cell Phones or Other Distractions:
Please try to refrain from using cell phones for call, texting, etc while in class. If it is an emergency, please take calls outside the classroom. Using cell phones or other electronic devices on or during the taking of tests/quizzes will be considered cheating and will be subject to academic integrity guidelines below.
Accommodations:
Students must have an official letter from the Office of Disability Services for any accommodations. If students have this letter, please send to the instructor immediately. Accommodations can only be in effect if given to the instructor at least 24 hours before an assessment. Accommodations cannot be applied after a student has completed an assessment.
Artificial Intelligence:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a resource that you can use to help you learn concepts. If you are using AI to complete all of your homework for you, then you are not utilizing it as a resource, but as a crutch. You will not learn anything from this course if you do not struggle through the homework until you understand what you are doing.
If you are found to be using AI for solutions to homework questions, then you get a warning to not continue using AI to find answers. If you continue using AI, then you will receive a zero for the assignment or possible removal from the course.
Academic integrity:
Cheating will not be tolerated. Infractions will follow the Student Code of Conduct and may result in a zero in the assignment/assessment and/or removal from the class.
| Week and Dates | Topics |
| Week 1 | Chapter 1: Whole Numbers; How to Dissect and Solve Word Problems |
| Week 2 | Chapter 2: Fractions |
| Week 3 | Chapter 3: Decimals Test over Chapters 1 – 3 |
| Week 4 | Chapter 4: Banking |
| Week 5 | Chapter 5: Solving for the Unknown: A How-To Approach for Solving Equations |
| Week 6 | Chapter 6: Percents and their Applications Test over Chapters 4 – 6 |
| Week 7 | Chapter 7: Discounts: Trade and Cash |
| Week 8 – 9 | Chapter 8: Markups and Markdowns: Perishables and Breakeven Analysis |
| Week 10 | Chapter 9: Payroll Test over Chapters 7 – 9 |
| Week 11 | Chapter 10: Simple Interest |
| Week 12 | Chapter 12: Compound Interest and Present Value |
| Week 13 | Chapter 14: Annuities and Sinking Funds Test over chapters 10 - 14 |
| Week 14 | Chapter 18: Inventory and Overload |
| Week 15 | Chapter 22: Business Statistics |
| Week 16 | Review for Final Exam |
| Finals Week | Wednesday, December 9th from 10am – 11:50am in L312 |
College Policies, Resources and Supports
For information related to the Student Code of Conduct Policy, Withdrawal Policy, Email Policy, and Non- Attendance/Non-Participation Policy, please review the college’s Code of Campus Affairs and Regulations webpage, which can be found at catalog.kcc.edu under the Academic Regulations & Conduct Guide.
KCC offers various academic and personal resources for all students. Many services are offered virtually, as well as in person. Please visit Student Resources - Kankakee Community College to access student resources services such as:
- Clubs and organizations
- Counseling and referral services
- Office of disability services
- Student complaint policy
- Transfer services
- Tutoring services, etc.
The materials on this course are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for purposes associated with this course. Further information regarding KCC's copyright policy is available at https://kcc.libguides.com/copyright.
|Course syllabus/calendar is subject to change.