Quantitative Reasoning

Last updated: June 28, 2012 at 4:12 p.m.

Objectives

The quantitative reasoning requirement has been established to develop students' abilities to collect, summarize and analyze numerical data; to make abstract concepts operational; and to think critically about the accuracy and soundness of conclusions based on data or on mathematical models. Quantitative reasoning courses usually embed methodological training in their subject matter. These courses vary widely in the skills that are emphasized, but they usually include one or more of the following:

A. Learning to read, construct, interpret and evaluate tables, graphs and charts.

B. Developing quantitative measures of physical, behavioral or social phenomena.

C. Using mathematical models to express causal relationships and to explore the implications of changed assumptions or proposed solutions to problems in the physical or social world.

D. Collecting and organizing numerical data from archives, surveys, lab experiments or other sources.

E. Testing hypotheses using experimental or statistical controls.

F. Assessing the limitations of research, such as the reliability and validity of measures, adequacy of experimental design, sample size and quality and alternative hypotheses and interpretations.

Each Brandeis undergraduate is required to take one course from the approved list of quantitative reasoning courses. This list may change, so students should consult the most recent list of approved courses in the Course Schedule to assure that they will receive requirement credit. (Naturally, students will not be denied credit retroactively if a course taken to fulfill the requirement is later dropped from the list.)

Some courses satisfy the quantitative reasoning requirement only when they are taken with the corresponding lab.

Courses of Instruction

ANTH 110a
Human Evolution

BCHM 100a
Introductory Biochemistry

BIOL 60b
Evolution

BIOL 107a
Data Analysis and Statistics Workshop

BIOL 135b
The Principles of Biological Modeling

CHEM 11a
General Chemistry I

CHEM 11b
General Chemistry II

CHEM 15a
Honors General Chemistry I

CHEM 15b
Honors General Chemistry II

CHEM 150b
Special Topics in Chemistry

CHSC 6a
Forensic Science: Col. Mustard, Candlestick, Billiard Room

CHSC 8b
Chemistry and Art

COSI 123a
Statistical Machine Learning

ECON 2a
A Survey of Economics

ECON 10a
Introduction to Microeconomics

ECON 83a
Statistics for Economic Analysis

ECON 135a
Industrial Organization

ECON 184b
Econometrics

HIST 126a
Early Modern Europe (1500-1700)

HIST 127b
Household and Family in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1300-1800)

HSSP 100b
Introduction to Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Population Health

HSSP 100bj
Introduction to Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Population Health

LGLS 138b
Science on Trial

LING 130a
Formal Semantics: Truth, Meaning, and Language

LING 160b
Mathematical Methods in Linguistics

MATH 8a
Introduction to Probability and Statistics

MATH 36a
Probability

MATH 36b
Mathematical Statistics

NEJS 165a
Analyzing the American Jewish Community

PHSC 2b
Introductory Astronomy

PHYS 10a
Introduction to Physical Laws and Phenomena I

PHYS 10b
Introduction to Physical Laws and Phenomena II

PHYS 11a
Introductory Physics I

PHYS 11b
Introductory Physics II

PHYS 15a
Advanced Introductory Physics I

PHYS 15b
Advanced Introductory Physics II

PHYS 39a
Advanced Physics Laboratory

POL 100b
Political Science Methods: Research, Design, and Modes of Analysis

PSYC 51a
Statistics

PSYC 52a
Research Methods and Laboratory in Psychology

PSYC 140a
Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) Applications

SOC 182a
Applied Research Methods

SOC 183a
Evaluation of Evidence