IPOD VIDEO: The purpose of this section is to look at the solution of simultaneous linear equations. We will see that solving a pair of simultaneous equations is equivalent to finding the location of the point of intersection of two straight lines. This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

Knowledge of the trigonometric ratios sine, cosine and tangent is vital in many fields of engineering, maths and science. This unit explains how the sine, cosine and tangent of an arbitrarily sized angle can be found. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

This leaflet shows how simple equations involving logarithms or exponentials can be solved. (Engineering Maths First Aid Kit 3.8)

Equations always involve one or more unknown quantities which we try to find when we solve the equation. The simplest equations to deal with are linear equations. On this leaflet we describe how these are solved.

2 equations, both linear (the second needs a small amount of algebra to reduce to a linear equation). Numbas resources have been made available under a Creative Commons licence by Bill Foster and Christian Perfect, School of Mathematics & Statistics at Newcastle University.

Statistics resources from www.statstutor.ac.uk offering statistics support materials, free of charge, to students, lecturers and everyone looking for post-16 statistics help. statstutor is a sister site to mathcentre and has the same look and feel.

Ciarán Mac an Bhaird, Olivia Fitzmaurice, Eabhnat Ní Fhloinn, and Ciarán O’Sullivan (2013). Student non-engagement with mathematics learning supports, Teaching Mathematics and its Applications, 32 (4), 191-205, doi: 10.1093/teamat/hrt018. Large numbers of students entering higher education take some level of mathematics as part of their degrees, and it is widely reported that a considerable minority of these students demonstrate a lack of the basic mathematical skills that they require to succeed. A common response has been the establishment of mathematics learning supports to give students the opportunity to reach the levels required. Research has shown that in general, although the supports appear to impact positively on students who avail of them, a significant number of students do not engage appropriately. This article presents preliminary findings from a national survey carried out at nine Higher Education Institutions in Ireland, focusing on the reasons given by students for their lack of engagement with the extra supports. It looks at the students’ mathematical backgrounds; the type of institution they attend, and discusses what these students reported would encourage them to avail of the supports.

Mathematical Advice and Co-ordination Service (MACS) was established in 1995 within the Faculty of Mathematics to support students within their studies at the University and to help prepare them to go into the world. Funding was made available for an initial period of 3 years and was then continued on a year-to-year basis. The emphasis has changed over the years and most of the work is now linked to students�¢?? current problems but also includes help for those facing employers�¢?? tests at interview. The University accepted that the concept of student support offered in Mathematics needed to be extended into other areas and, through The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), established the Student Advice Service (SAS). The SAS is now a permanent feature of the University serving any member of the student body (and indeed staff) who might benefit from what it offers. The remainder of this case study considers only the mathematical part of the SAS, though many of the comments apply to the other areas of the SAS (Academic English, Study Skills and ICT).

This article by SARAH PARSONS (Harper Adams University College) describes the positive effects on examination results of introducing mathematics support and implementing other changes. The article presents data which shows that significantly improved results followed from changes introduced in 2001 which included substantial mathematics support provision. However, because many other changes (changed content, separate lectures for some groups, diagnostic testing etc) were introduced at the same time it is not possible to isolate particular effects of the mathematics support provision. Nevertheless external examiner comments reflect the value of mathematics support. The article is published in MSOR Connections Feb 2005 Vol. 5 No.1.

Nine years ago members of staff within Physical Sciences at Cambridge University began recognizing that some students were having problems not only with the Mathematics Courses but also with applying material from A level in the context of their scientific subjects. The mathematics workbook was introduced to assist students with revision prior to starting university. On completion the student is asked to fill in a questionnaire that helps to define the problem areas. This is presented to their supervisor. The supervision system is a fundamental feature of Cambridge teaching and one of its main strengths. The student sees a supervisor â?? most commonly in a group of two undergraduates, sometimes in a group of three and only exceptionally one-on-one â?? to discuss his or her work for at least an hour once a week. Such support is ongoing and essentially provides individual attention to those students who lack fundamental mathematical skills.

Roots and powers are closely related, but only some roots can be written as whole numbers. Surds are roots which cannot be written in this way. Nevertheless, it is possible to manipulate surds, and to simplify formulae. (Mathtutor Video Tutorial) This resource is released under a Creative Commons license Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works and the copyright is held by Skillbank Solutions Ltd.

3 questions. First, two equations in two unknowns, second 3 equations in 3 unknowns, solved by Gauss elimination. The third two equations in 2 unknowns solved by putting into matrix form and finding the inverse of the coefficient matrix. Numbas resources have been made available under a Creative Commons licence by the School of Mathematics & Statistics at Newcastle University.

New entrants to chemistry degree programmes are given a 24 hour course in mathematics if they do not have an A level qualification in the subject. This concentrates only on the skills necessary to successfully complete the first year physical chemistry course; these include simple statistics, functions, partial differentiation and integration. The course is taught using chemically relevant examples, in an order related to the chemistry course rather than traditional mathematics courses.