Two approaches, Linear Discriminant Analysis, and Logistic Regression are used and compared to predict success or failure for first-time freshmen in the first calculus course at a medium-sized public, 4-year institution prior to Fall registration. The predictor variables are high school GPA, the number, and GPA's of college prep mathematics courses taken in grades 9 to 12, ACT math scores, and the score on a calculus readiness test. First-time freshmen who are predicted to fail are advised to take a precalculus course prior to attempting the first calculus course. Using a prediction model for 2012 based on data from 2010 and 2011, 73.9% of students were classified correctly as either passing or failing Calculus I. Of students predicted to fail, 77% did in fact fail which was almost three times as high as the failure rate for students predicted to pass. The study also found that both precollege achievement factors, (specifically high school math GPA), and a placement test (the calculus readiness test) were significant predictors of success in Calculus I.

ln 1973, the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) initiated a new undergraduate general education program for the purpose of encouraging innovative courses and interdisciplinary cooperation. The university has never required mathematics as a part of its general education program. However, the Mathematics Department at UNC is becoming more involved with service courses for other departments. In the hope of encouraging more students to take some mathematics, I developed a course entitled “Gambling, Casinos, and Game Simulation.” This article explains the objectives, the content, and the intent of the course.

Summary Suppose it is known that the mean of a normal distribution is non‐negative. Naturally one will use the sample mean truncated at zero as an estimator of the distribution mean. In this paper the properties of such an estimator are investigated.

An absorbing Markov chain was used to model the 2012 PGA Tour Golf Season. Expected number of steps until absorption was used to establish expected scores for different locations (fairway, primary rough, green, etc.) and distances from the hole. Strokes gained analysis was then performed to evaluate the quality of each shot hit by players on the 2012 PGA Tour. Skill rankings were developed, tradeoffs between distance and accuracy were assessed, and player strategy was analyzed for playing par 5s.

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