CS 150L - Computing for Business Students
Computer Science Department
University of New Mexico

Course Description
Computing for Business Students begins with some computer literacy skills in using the Web, e-mail and Microsoft Word, but quickly moves well beyond basic literacy. The greater part of this course is about developing the spreadsheet skills needed for success in upper level Anderson School of Management courses. In particular, the focus is on reading a word problem, extracting the assumptions, using Microsoft Excel to represent those assumptions, using Excel to solve the problem in such a way that changing any one of the assumptions automatically changes all results that depend on that assumption, and representing all of this in a clear and professional format. While the applications and examples used in this course all relate to business, these are spreadsheet skills that apply to many disciplines.

Instructor:
Joel Castellanos
Department of Computer Science
e-mail: joel@unm.edu
phone: 505-277-7146

Office: Farris Engineering Center (FEC) 321
     Building #119 in section I-2 of the campus map.

Office hours (Fall 2009):
     Tues & Thurs: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM and by appointment


Detailed Course Description and Syllabus

Lab Section Schedule with lab instructor names, office hours and e-mail addresses (updated Sept 5, 2009)



Textbooks and Supplies
  1. Computing for Business Students - A Laboratory Manual” by Joel Castellanos. ISBN-13: 978-0-558-39213-0.
    Published by Pearson. Available at the UNM bookstore.
  2. Microsoft® Office, free Internet tutorials. Available on the Web at:
  3. USB Flash Drive (128MB or larger)
  4. i>clicker®. Available UNM bookstore. Register your i>clidker here. Note: Register your UNM NetID, NOT your student ID.


Registration Notes
Completion of Math 120 (Intermediate Algebra) with a passing grade is a strict prerequisite requirement for CS-150. Any one of the more advanced mathematics courses offered at UNM including Math 121, Math 123, Math 150, Math 162, Math 163, Math 180 or Math 181 will all fulfill this prerequisite requirement. If you have fulfilled the mathematics prerequisite at a different institution (including high school), then you will need to contact Lynne Jacobsen, the Computer Science department Coordinator of Program Advisement via e-mail at csinfo@cs.unm.edu. Explain the situation and send your UNM student ID number along with the course number and section into which you want to register. With your permission in e-mail, Lynne can check your transcript through LoboWeb to verify that you have successfully completed the prerequisite mathematics and override the registration error. The subject line of the e-mail should be: CS-150 registration error.


Lecture Notes:

  1. Introduction.
  2. Using WebCT.
  3. e-mail: The good, the bad and the ulgy.
  4. A few Windows XP features.
  5. Typography
  6. The Ruler and Lists
  7. Images, Color and Clip Art
  8. WebCT: A Cautionary Tale
  9. Word Exam Review
  10. Lab 4: Microsoft Excel and Weighted Mean
  11. Lab 5: Date Functions and Currency Conversion
  12. Lab 6: Charts
  13. Midterm Exam Review
  14. Lab 7: Mortgage Loan Amortization Schedules
  15. Lab 8: Future Value of a Retirement Annuity
  16. Lab 9: Annuity and IF
  17. Lab 10: Financial Forecast