Welcome to Business Mathematics
What Is Business Math?
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 work with taxes, gross earnings, product prices, and currency exchange; 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.
How Do I Learn about Business Math?
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:
- Always read the content prior to your professor covering the topic in class.
- Attend class, ask questions, and explore the topic to advance your understanding.
- Do the homework and assignments—you absolutely must practice, practice, and practice!
- Seek help immediately when you need it. Learning mathematics is like constructing a building. Each floor of the building requires the floor below it to be completed first. In mathematics, each section of a textbook requires the concepts and techniques from the sections that preceded it. If you have trouble with a concept, you must fix it NOW before it causes a large ripple effect on your ability to succeed in subsequent topics. So the bottom line is that you absolutely cannot replace this approach—you must follow it.
About this Textbook
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.
Accessibility Statement
Please review Conestoga College’s Accessibility Statement for OER Projects.
Original Book Citation
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/
About the Authors
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.
Book Cover Attribution
Cover image created with Canva. Photos reused under the Canva Free Media License Agreement.
Land Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge Indigenous peoples for their contributions as we work towards reconciliation by learning about the people, the land, and traditional territories on which we work and reside. Conestoga College is located on the traditional territory of the Anishnawbe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral peoples.
