Mathematics

As the Queen of all the sciences, mathematics truly is the universal language.  The need for mathematical understanding can be found in just about every aspect of human endeavor.  At the college level today, nearly every major requires that a student take courses in calculus or statistics.

The purpose of the mathematics curriculum at Marian High School is to provide students with a clear understanding of the basic concepts of high school mathematics in order to lay the foundation for more advanced work at the college level.

The unifying concept of the curriculum is the function.  This simple, yet powerful, idea serves as the cornerstone of all advanced work in the field.  We explore functions through the problems or situations in which they arose in the past (or present); by examining the data that the circumstance provides; by visually representing this information in graphical form; and by modeling the narrative with an algebraic representation.  Over the course of four years, our students amass a vast library of functions and acquire an understanding of how they are applied.

Graphing calculators and computer software, as well as traditional teaching methods, are used as tools to aid the learning process.  Four years of mathematics are recommended for all Marian students.