Quantitative Reasoning Assignment (College Algebra)
SCENARIO:
You are about to graduate from college- congratulations! Although you have accumulated some debt over the years, you received three offers of employment just last week. You have some decisions to make since your job offers are in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Many factors might influence which job you choose to take, For example, you’ll want to optimize your earning potential while factoring in costs of living in the three cities. Your parents, always willing to provide advice, are strongly encouraging you to choose the job in New York. They make the following claims to try and convince you that the New York job makes the most sense!
1. The New York job pays the highest and, therefore, you’ll be happiest with that job.
2. Home prices in New York are lower than in Chicago and Los Angeles.
3. Crime rate is lower in New York than in Chicago and Los Angeles.
4. New York has less rain and cooler temperatures than Chicago and Los Angeles.
5. New York has better air quality than Chicago and Los Angeles.
You think that they may have some valid points. Nevertheless, you decide to do some research on your own to investigate their claims. You also find additional information that is relevant to deciding which job to accept. All of your research findings are included in the documents provided as part of this Performance Task.
TASK:
Your job is to evaluate your parents’ claims and decide which job offer to accept. To do so, please answer the questions that follow using only the supporting documents provided. Your answers should include quantitative summaries of any relevant data drawn from the documents provided to support your position. You are asked to make calculations and create summary charts or graphs to make your case as strong as possible. A strong response will include relevant data summarized and presented in a format that you create (e.g., text, graph, table). Simply copying and pasting portions of the supporting documents does not demonstrate strong quantitative reasoning skills. Keep in mind that there is no single correct response to the questions! Instead, your ability to interpret quantitative data and make sound conclusions is most relevant.
QUESTIONS:
1. What are the strengths and/or weaknesses of your parents’ claims? Be sure to
summarize and present all relevant data derived from the supporting documents as you
evaluate their claims.
2. Which job will you accept? Make your case by summarizing and presenting all relevant
data in the supporting documents. Keep in mind that you should evaluate various factors among the jobs in the three different locations and present a convincing case demonstrating why the job offer you choose is better than the others.
Feel free to make graphs or use document/spreadsheet software to make your case.
You will submit a document including your answers to these questions. Your response should satisfy the criteria in the rubric below and use information from the job offer below, the research given to you, and contain a clearly laid-out discussion. The appropriate length is 3-5 pages double-spaced.