Business math is the study of mathematics required by the field of business. By the fact that you are reading this textbook, you must be interested in a business field such as accounting, marketing, human resources, or economics.
Regardless of your path, you cannot avoid dealing with money and numbers. Both personally and in your career you certainly use elementary arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. However, there is a whole field of mathematics that deals specifically with money. You will be offered loans, lines of credit, mortgages, leases, savings bonds, and other financial tools. Do you know what these are and how these financial tools can maximize your earnings and minimize your costs? Do you have what it takes to execute smart monetary decisions both personally and for your business? Do you know how interest works and how it gets calculated? If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then you are already off to a great start. If not, by the end of this textbook you will have a better understanding of all of these topics and more.
Let’s be realistic. In some areas of life and business, you can achieve a reasonable degree of understanding just by reading. However, reading about business mathematics without doing it would be disastrous. To succeed, you must follow a structured approach:
This textbook covers topics from Chapters 8 to 13 inclusive adapted from the original Business Math: A Step-by-Step Handbook by J. Olivier and Lyryx Learning Inc. View the original text for free at Business Math: A Step-by-Step Handbook . Reused under a CC BY-NC-SA license.
This resource uses LaTex and a MathJax plugin to render math formulas. Please note that “some screen readers support MathML, MathJax’s internal format. Screen readers like ChromeVox, JAWS (on IE), and TextHelp support MathJax directly (most only version 2); other screen readers are supported by the assistive-mml extension as of version 3.0.1.” (MathJax Consortium, 2021). It is important to also note that the quality of screen reader support varies greatly with the software you are using and the various settings enabled. For more information on MathJax and screen reader support please visit the MathJax Consortium Accessibility Features page.
Author: J. Olivier
Publisher: Lyryx Learning Inc.
Book title: Business Math: A Step-by-Step Handbook
Book version: 2021B
Publication date: July 19, 2021
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Book URL: https://lyryx.com/subjects/business/business-mathematics/
Sanja Kraishnik, BA, BEd, MMath
Sanja, the lead on this OER project, has taught math in the Business School at Conestoga College ITAL, in Kitchener, Ontario, for ten years. Sanja’s dedication to ensuring that math is accessible to all students is demonstrated by using LaTex and the MathJax plug-in for Pressbooks to render math formulas and her dedication to ensuring this OER met accessibility requirements. To learn more about using Latex and Pressbooks, review Using LaTex in Pressbooks by Sanja Krajisnik and Jelena Loncar.
Jelena Loncar-Vines, OCT, MSc, BEd
Jelena is a faculty member in the School of Business at Conestoga College ITAL and can be reached at jloncarvines@conestogac.on.ca. Jelena has been a mathematics educator for 14 years, 11 of which have been at the post-secondary level. Jelena’s career focus is to help make mathematics relatable and accessible to students. In addition to teaching, Jelena has volunteered on mathematics education-focused organizations, both provincial and local. Jelena is a life-long learner and enjoys active participation in professional development opportunities geared toward mathematics, post-secondary education, and effective use of technology in the classroom. The development of this OER, and the opportunity for close collaborations with colleagues, has been a very rewarding experience.
Carol Leppinen, Honours BMath, BEd, Honours Specialist Mathematics
Carol is a faculty member in the Business School at Conestoga College ITAL, in Kitchener Ontario and can be reached at cleppinen@conestogac.on.ca. Carol has been a full-time professor at Conestoga College ITAL since 1998 where she has taught Business Mathematics, Statistics, and Quantitative Methods. Prior to that, Carol taught Mathematics and Computer Science at the secondary school level for 5 years. Carol has been a career teacher and is passionate about her students. Carol is grateful for all that her students have taught her over the years.
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Business Math: A Step-by-Step Handbook Abridged Copyright © 2022 by Sanja Krajisnik; Carol Leppinen; and Jelena Loncar-Vines is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.