Some Words About Level of Difficulty

Viewed apart from a context of a memo, the mathematics, technology, and writing demands of certain chapters may not seem very difficult when taken separately. But when students analyze a data set, interpret and draw inferences from mathematical formulations within specific problem contexts and then organize the various charts, computer output, and text into a coherent and readily understood memo, they find the work to be anything but easy. Indeed, instructors of this text invariably comment on how they themselves have been challenged by the problems. The open-ended nature of the problems (e.g. see the Chapter 1 memo) contributes to this challenge, as well as the sheer amount of time it takes to complete the whole process. This is one of the reasons that instructors may not wish to assign a memo problem every week, especially when requiring revisions, which students mightily appreciate and benefit from.