The Mathematics program at San Jose City College offers a comprehensive selection of both developmental and transfer level courses in Mathematics and Statistics. Many classes use graphing calculators and computer software programs to aid in student understanding of mathematical concepts. The faculty promotes the use of manipulatives, the discovery method to develop critical thinking, group collaboration, and problem solving skills.

     SJCC offers comprehensive walk-in tutoring programs for mathematics students. This program is held in our new Cesar Chavez, Learning Resource Center (LRC) in Room L-105. The tutoring is done by successful mathematics students.

     The gateway to many majors - including Mathematics, Science, Computer Science, and Engineering - is Calculus. We have taken extra effort to offer an in-depth Pre-Calculus Program (Math 21 & 22, or Math 25) that has been proven to increase the success of students in the Calculus sequence.

     The department also supports the mathematics portion of campus programs which target diverse groups of students, such as the Puente and Transfer Express programs, by offering special math sections. Some of these programs require students to take the supporting laboratory courses for more in-depth practice in developing good problem solving and critical thinking skills.

     Each year San José City College students have an opportunity to participate in two rounds of a nationwide mathematics contest sponsored by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Student Mathematics League. Each of the two rounds of this contest consists of a written set of 20 problems to be solved within a one-hour time period, with the aid of a graphing calculator. The level of the contest problems is pre-calculus mathematics. The Mathematics Department will award prizes to the SJCC students with the best total scores over the two rounds of the contest. The national winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship.

Academic Systems

     San Jose City College offers a developmental math curriculum including Basic Mathematics and Introductory and Intermediate Algebra in our Academic Systems Laboratory. This program is designed to help students have a successful math experience by allowing them to take these classes over more than one semester if needed. These classes have an instructor, an instructional aide and tutors. Additionally, these classes use a combination of lecture and computer aided instruction to foster student success.