Math Department Overview
" A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas. A painter makes patterns with shapes and colors, a poet with words... The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics."
A Mathematician's Apology by G.H. Hardy
Cambridge University Press, 1940
Selected to Modern Library's list of the 100 greatest nonfiction books of the 20th century.
Changes in society and the development of technology require that students learn more and often different mathematics from the curriculum of the past. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has stated in its standards, "All industrialized societies have experienced a shift from an industrial to an information society - a shift that has transformed both the aspects of mathematics that need to be transmitted to students and the concepts and procedure they must master if they are to be self-fulfilled, productive citizens in the next century." Seacrest High School's curriculum will respond to this with an important emphasis on problem-solving skills, on reasoning and communications skills in mathematics, on establishing connections between the various mathematical disciplines, and on the use of both computer and calculator technology as mathematical tools.
To help our students master these abilities, we offer them a structured sequence of courses from pre-algebra through trigonometry. These required courses lay a foundation for college work in both mathematics and related subjects. After completing trigonometry, students who continue in math may elect courses appropriate to their needs and interest. Those with unusual talent in mathematics may take the honors sequence leading to Advanced Placement calculus.
