July 7, 2009

Catalano published in national Numeracy Network Journal

Michael Catalano

MITCHELL — Michael Catalano, professor of mathematics at Dakota Wesleyan University, recently co-authored an article published in Numeracy: Advancing Education in Quantitative Literacy, a journal published in an online format by the National Numeracy Network.

Catalano wrote “Measuring Resource Inequality: The Gini Coefficient” with Dr. Tom Pfaff, Ithaca College, New York, and Dr. Tanya Leise, Amherst College, Massachusetts.

“The article stems from work that I began with Tom and Tanya two years ago at the second workshop on the mathematics of social justice that I attended at Middlebury College in Vermont,” Catalano said. “All of us were interested in bringing real-world examples related to social justice issues into the classroom.”

The article discusses the Gini coefficient, which is a way to measure resource inequality and how it can be used to help teach quantitative literacy concepts in first-year calculus.

“We hope the article will prove useful to colleagues and help promote both social justice issues and discussions of quantitative literacy within the mathematical community,” he said.

Catalano has been a faculty member at DWU since 1992.

The most current issue of the journal may be found by going to: http://services.bepress.com/numeracy/.